STH
by SoulTask
Summary: On Mobius, everyone has their own special talent that gives special abilities to do something with the world. Everyone... except Sonic. But when his Uncle Chuck goes missing one night, he drops in on a meeting that knocks his life way out of balance. But a new group of friends and uncovered secrets may help Sonic find his place in the world. Chapter 7 is up!
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Out of all the unfitting names they had to pick, they had to pick Sonic. Maybe it was due to the fact that he started walking at the age of one. Maybe it was because he was a pretty fast walker at that age. Maybe it was the fact that he was always the first one to his classes, even if he didn't understand anything they were talking about. It may have been many things, but none of it seemed to hold any water. The matter still stood: his parents named him Sonic, and he couldn't change it.

That Monday morning, just like every other day of his past 17 years, the hedgehog had always wondered how he could change. The sunrays, as always, glistened through the window and returned him to reality, and the fact that he was Sonic continued to greet him. But he hated it.

_What kind of name is Sonic?_ He always wondered as his eyes slowly opened back up. _I mean, it doesn't even make sense! I'm one of the slowest people in the class. It always brings the wrong idea._

But no matter his thoughts, the hedgehog knew he had to live life like everyone else on Mobius. He threw the covers up against the wall set against his bed, and swiveled his feet over the edge. Planting his feet firmly on the floor, he pushed off his mattress to stand tall. However, it was a Monday… and a scornful look was ever so slightly sketched onto his face. It wasn't really that he hated Mondays… it was more that he didn't much like the idea of waking up on a Monday.

Sonic simply sighed. In a way, he always depressed himself in the mornings. All those negative thoughts on his name usually bugged him continuously throughout the day. It was something of a downer, to be honest. But even with his saddening thoughts, he worked himself to slip on his puffed socks, blue sneakers, and banded gloves. Quickly hopping over to the mirror slanted slightly off his dusty desk, he looked himself over. Shoes and gloves? Check. Brown sling backpack? Check! A dozen crazy quills in the back? Check!

His gloved hands simply brushed a set of his spiky quills in the back of his head. Unlike his father, mother, and uncle, Sonic had (what seemed to be) dozens of quills popping out from his head. His family relatives seemed to have maybe four or five on their heads. It was peculiar… but then again, Sonic was fairly peculiar.

Most Mobians had a talent… a power or attribute that they use to perform their tasks. For Sonic's uncle, it was his mechanical genius and intellect. For his father, it was being extremely effective in strategy and tactics. His mother was well-minded and also doubled in cookery (and, as his uncle would tell him, "lots of sass"). Sonic's friends… well, Sonic didn't have many friends.

But everyone had a special talent… everyone except Sonic.

That was why his name was so unfitting. That's why it always bothered him… because there was nothing special about him. He was literally a hedgehog. A regular, brown, million-quilled, and painfully average hedgehog. But it always amazed him how he woke up… every single morning… and kept going.

He tried to smile back at the mirror, but all he saw was a shamble of a smile. He wasn't even able to look that good either. Everyone had a look, but Sonic… he just seemed a little awkward in his fashion. What was there about Sonic that was special? Nothing much… no one knew… and no one was really dying to know. At one point, Sonic thought his special talent was being invisible to girls… which might have actually been true. But he wasn't sure if that was really a talent, so he let it slide and kept hoping.

He just wished that he could be good at something… anything. No one really knew what he could possibly do… not even him. And when he looked in his mirror… and the black, colorless eyes of his brown-quilled reflection stared back at him, he couldn't help but feel disgusted.

However, like everyone else around him, he fought to put on a smile and brace through it. Maybe this wasn't going to be the day that he got his talent all figured out… but as long as he kept up the fight to find it, he was all right with it.

Sonic casually opened his bedroom door, and began to march his way down the hall into the living room. The leather couch was spread out across from a small television, which had a bookcase filled with volumes of history propped up next to it. To the side of the living room sat the kitchen, where a small dining table was added in just recently. And standing at the counter-top, tinkering with the red-hot coffee machine once again, was Sonic's only family member left… his uncle Chuck.

"Still not working?" Sonic chimed in, making his uncle jump slightly and drop a bolt off the counter. He seemed intent on grabbing the bolt up, but looked back at Sonic and greeted his morning with a smile.

"Nice to see you up this morning, Sonny boy." He cheerfully said before bending down and grasping the bolt.

Sonic chuckled as he ventured back over to the counter, hoping to help him out a little.

"Oh, come on, Uncle Chuck," Sonic slightly begged, "give me some credit. I get up every morning."

His uncle laughed for a moment, rising from the floor, and looked back at his nephew.

"At 11 in the morning!" He jokingly retorted. "It's always good to get up early."

"Easy for you to say." Sonic replied with a grin. "You're a genius; it's part of your system to be up and about every hour of the day, making something new."

Uncle Chuck smirked underneath his thick mustache, soon returning his attention to the coffee maker and grasping its parts.

"Well…" He began, fiddling with some knobs, "… that's not all there is to being a mechanic."

"It's about all I really know about you." Sonic pointed out.

His uncle looked back at his nephew. Sonic never thought he'd be special anytime soon… but Uncle Chuck always thought different. He was certain that the little hog would figure it out any day now. But it always occurred to him that his constant mechanics might be the problem. The old man was the closest thing Sonic had to a father… and he knew it well. He felt like he was distancing them from each other… but Sonic's cheerful attitude always let him know that they were close.

Chuck simply smiled back at his only real son.

"It's all you need to know to live with me." He put simply.

Sonic only grinned. He loved his uncle. He appreciated his offering to take the little hog in after his parents left him. And living with his uncle was one of the best parts of his life… probably the only good part of his life.

Uncle Chuck pulled his arms from the machine and swiveled to his nephew, patting his shoulders.

"Now go on!" Sonic's uncle cheered. "You got to get to school!"

Sonic plainly nodded and began to jog to the front door. Twisting the knob and swinging the door behind him, he barely had enough time to hear his uncle's last words.

"And bring up your math and science!"

Sonic constantly thought it was gonna be a good day.

But it just so happens…

… that today was going to be the last day…

that he would be normal.

* * *

**Welcome to STH.**


	2. 1 - A Bad Day

**Chapter 1: A Bad Day**

If any word could describe Sonic's usual day, it was "thought".

The door from his home led out into the small town that he had been lucky enough to grow up in… Knothole. It was a small village of sorts, set up under a humungous oak tree, dubbed as the Acorn Tree. All around the small town was miles of forest. It was so close to the ground that no one could see over the overhanging trees and distant mountains.

Every single day, Sonic would look up and marvel at the Acorn Tree's magnificence. When he first laid his eyes on it, he didn't think much of it… just that it was rather large tree that the town was built around. But the tree's ubiquitous presence had some history to it… most of which passed right over his head. It was the home of the god for the ancestors of the area, but that's all he could truly remember.

Sonic continued to walk down the path of the town. Knothole was built along a curved road, which ended halfway around the Acorn Tree. The entire town was essentially a long stretch of small buildings and establishments, but neatly kept.

Knothole had the bare essentials of any town: stores, elementary, middle, high schools, and some science-y based places… even a relatively popular restaurant. That was actually the reason that tourists even came into town to begin with. And Sonic wondered about that at least once a day… that people would come to visit this town. Not only was he weirded out by how popular a tree village was, but also that there were other places besides Knothole to explore.

The one place that he truly wanted to go was Central City. His uncle and parents always went on about how magnificent the city truly was. Skyscrapers, monuments, and incredible views of the wilderness surrounding the vast cityscape. Supposedly, it was a sight to behold. But Uncle Chuck never had enough time to make a trip there. It never bothered Sonic too much, but he always wished he could go out somewhere else and live a different life. Any life that would take him away from that lonely little village.

* * *

It was one of those days where Sonic didn't have a lunch. His uncle would usually make one for him only minutes before he had to leave, but the coffee maker must've gotten the better of him. And Sonic didn't even notice he had come to school without a lunch until he entered the cafeteria at 12:30 that day.

The whole room was filled with teens, all of them either texting on their phones or picking at other people's foods to make them blow a gasket. Sonic didn't care about people doing that today… since he didn't have much for them to pick at… but they always found ways to point Sonic's flaws. The way he hunched himself over when he walked, his constant daydreaming, his slow and cautious walk (in case someone around the next corner was preparing to trip him)… they were all habits of being an outcast in Knothole. And there weren't any outcasts in Knothole… let alone on Mobius. And Sonic knew that fact pretty well.

Somehow, the hedgehog managed to find a table uninhabited by other Mobians. He quietly slipped his legs under the table and sat on the bench, letting his backpack slip off to the ground. He rubbed his face slowly, trying to keep himself calm and controlled.

He would sit with the other people in his class, but he knew too well that the insults would rattle out like clowns from a small car; there would be seemingly no end. And even after lunch, he would hear the same things again and again, as if there were no better way to describe him: freak of nature, unnatural, mutant, creature, and an actual walking piece of…

"Mind if I sit here?" A small young voice sounded from behind like a chorus of angels.

The hedgehog's ears perked up instantly; the idea of a peaceful and comforting voice talking to him caught him so off-guard that he shook in his seat before checking behind him. The sharpness of his turnaround startled the other, nearly making him lose his tray of food. Sonic looked closely at the kid, realizing who he was dealing with: a kid.

It was a small orange fox, he guessed to be in the 9th grade judging his high-ish voice and boy-like features. Three little hair tassels hung from his forehead, and his ears sprouted up like mountains from his head. Looking further down, he could see the kid's dirty work gloves and marked-up shoes. And then he noticed the fox's two tails. Sonic had seen a family of foxes in the village before, but not with two tails. Perhaps they were new in town? It would explain why he never saw the kid before; he remembered mostly everyone… though the people he usually remembered from school were the ones who hated on him, so he could steer away from them on the way to school.

But Sonic quickly remembered that the kid asked him a question. But even the question was new and disorienting. _Who would want to sit here,_ Sonic thought to himself. _Does he even know who I am? _But he didn't want his bad attitude to ruin this opportunity.

"Uh… uh, yeah… sure." He stuttered through his trembling thoughts. There were so many questions he now had that he couldn't process them all at once.

"Thanks." The fox responded, happily placing his tray on the table next to Sonic and hopping into his seat. "I would sit with my class, but I don't like all the chatter. Makes me not think straight."

The kid picked up his carton of milk and took a sip of it. Sonic wanted to ask him for some, but he decided against it; he wasn't going to become a beggar anytime soon. But he really wanted some food. On top of that, he didn't have an idea as to what to talk about with him. _I don't even know him,_ he pointed out to himself.

But the fox, picking up a sort of tuna melt sandwich, kept up the conversation.

"Why are you sitting here?" He asked quite innocently before taking a bite.

_Wow,_ Sonic thought to himself astonished, _he really must be new here._

"The people here…" he told quite literally, "… don't like me very much."

The fox seemed to tilt his head at the remark.

"How come?" He inquired through garbled tuna.

As much as he wanted to rant to the kid, Sonic knew that the little dude was coming here for a chat and not a reason to hate life. Besides, the kid didn't seem like he didn't fit in with anyone at the school. You know, except for the fact that he was sitting with the village outcast.

"It's 'cause I'm…" he paused to calm his response, "… I'm different from… a lot of people. They don't like me because I'm don't have a nack for anything."

The fox put his sandwich back on the tray, reaching back for his milk again.

"Well, that can't be true." He said very honestly.

"You'd be surprised…" The outcast muttered to himself.

A minute passed, though it felt like half an hour for Sonic. He had never engaged in conversation with anyone at his school before… not even a teacher. His participation grade was fairly low, with only a couple points for actually doing the assigned work in his class instead of gossiping in the back corner of the room.

"I probably should've asked this when I came over," the little kid began to admit, "but what's your name?"

Sonic had dealt with this question so many times that he could not count. Though, if he did count, the number would be around the size of the student body. Maybe a little les due to gossiping and such. He didn't even turn his attention to the kid… just stared off at the corner where the wall met the floor.

"Sonic." He said clearly enough for the fox to still hear.

"Mine's Miles." The fox replied, taking a sip of his milk before continuing. "Don't really like it, but I'll just have to live with it. So do you have, like… a speed ability or something?"

Sonic just chuckled to himself at the mere thought of that. For anyone to guess that… it just made him laugh at himself for not living up to even a 14 year-old kid's expectations of the name "Sonic".

"Nah…" he began, leaning back from the table and turning his head to Miles, "… just a naming mishap, I suppose. Like I said, there's nothing really great about me."

Miles almost dropped his milk at Sonic's words. He rested his drink with both hands just in case he encountered another random fact about this hedgehog.

"Really? Nothing at all?" the kitsune repeated. "That can't be true. My mom told me that it could never happen."

"Yeah, well, it can." Sonic solemnly admitted.

Miles was slightly jolted by this discovery, so much so that he didn't know where else to go with the conversation.

"As far as I know, I'm the only one here." The hedgehog continued. "It's not entirely unbearable… but it gets to you sometimes."

It was at this point that Sonic remembered he was talking to a little fox.

"Ah, but that's enough about me…" Sonic nervously shifted the focus. "What do you do? I do like to hear about other people's talents… whenever I get the chance to listen… from a distance."

Miles swiveled in his seat and focused himself entirely on Sonic. The outcast never would've thought that someone would be invested in a conversation with someone like him. Perhaps this was something important… a sign of good fortune. Growing in a science household, it was hard for Sonic to really express such an idea, but he always dwelled on the idea of someone looking out for him… in little ways like this. But out of all the little ways to help through each day, this little fox was the biggest one.

"Well, technically, my talent is mechanics." Miles admitted before explaining further. "I have a fairly spacious mind, and my mom always wanted me to fill it up with as much I could. I like to work with big machines and electric wires and what not."

"So, like… an engineer of some sort?" Sonic quickly asked.

"Yeah, exactly." Miles enthusiastically answered. "But I got lucky; a little bit of genetic trouble actually gave me two tails instead of one. My family always thought it was weird, but I found a way to make it work with my mechanical repertoire. I build things that are literally triple my size, and it's all because of my two tails!"

Sonic glanced down at the two bushy tails, swaying back and forth, like a dog's wagging tail in slow motion.

"What do you do? Climb up stuff with them?" I guessed without much real effort put in my answer.

"Close." The fox told him. "I figured out when I was four or five years old (at least as my mom tells it) that I could spin my tails quickly enough to actually lift me off the ground. Now I've had years of big mechanical experience all because I can basically fly!"

"So you're like a Mobian helicopter?" Sonic joked with a smirk.

"I suppose that'd be the case." The kitsune admitted before turning back to his food.

Sonic couldn't believe what had just happened; this little kid had just expressed his passion for mechanics to the lowest-regarded person in the entire cafeteria. But he soon realized a smaller truth: the kid had actually made him smile. Granted, it was a smirk, but he had never had a more genuine smirk than whenever his uncle took the time to hug him. Which was almost daily. And it was something Sonic needed every day. But Miles quickly realized something.

"Wait… where's your food?" He asked with concern.

"Oh…" Sonic had almost forgotten. "Yeah… my uncle forgot to pack it… and make it, for that matter"

"Well, if it's an uncle, I can understand." Miles joked. "My mom says that my dad was like that a lot. Does your uncle forget to do things a lot?"

Sonic chuckled to himself; he knew more about his uncle than anyone could ever hope to. "It really depends on when I catch him… whether he's experimenting or actually making food. I just have to be lucky."

Miles picked his milk back up and lifted it to his lips. But he never took a drink. Instead, he peered back over at a hunched over Sonic, gazing blankly at the wall. The fox pulled the carton away from his muzzle and gave it a concerning look. Then he looked back at Sonic, wishing he had something better to say. But he remembered what his mother constantly told him: doing something is always better than saying you'll do it.

The hedgehog was lost in his thoughts, feeling an overcast of emotion as he recalled everytime he came home to find his uncle ready to sweep in for a hug. At this moment in his life, that's what Sonic needed the most: someone to hug.

A slight nudge pulled him from his train of thought. Sonic turned to Miles, only to come face-to-face with a partially opened milk carton. Peering around its corner, he could see the kitsune's face slightly light up at Sonic's surprise.

"I figured you'd want something." Miles said with perfect honesty, his eyes never looking away from Sonic's. The hedgehog was astounded at the offer… no one ever offered him anything. With a slight breath in, he took hold of the carton, and Miles's fingers relinquished their grip; it was Sonic's milk now. He looked down into the carton, seeing the leftover milk inside. He couldn't help but look back up at Miles in shock once more.

"You really want me to have some?" He let the words slip from his mouth with a stammered tongue.

Tails shrugged and turned back to his tuna melt. "You can have the rest if you want. I really just wanted the tuna melt, to be honest."

As the fox delved back into his tuna melt, Sonic turned his head back to the milk, lifting it to his lips with this trebling sensation of gratitude surging through his arms. But even with his nervousness, he managed to lift far enough up to take down the rest of it. Within seconds, he felt refreshed and slightly better than before. Miles later even offered him a corner of the tuna melt, and Sonic didn't have much reason to refuse. He never thought he'd get a lunch that day.

When Miles decided to head back early to his locker, Sonic couldn't help but turn to him as the kid started his departure.

"Hey, Miles?" He desperately attempted to grab his attention.

The fox swiveled around, responding with an attentive and genuine "Yep?"

Sonic managed a smile. "Thanks for the lunch, man."

"Hey," Miles began to point out, "everyone has a bad day. Which means that a good one is somewhere along the way."

The fox smiled and walked off from the table and out of the cafeteria doors. Sonic turned back to the wall, a slight smile still present on his face. This was the first time anyone at that school had ever welcomed him with open arms.

And though he never addressed it when the fox sat there with him, it was the first time in a long while that he had ever had someone he could ever… call a friend.

* * *

Sonic always enjoyed a little bit of sightseeing after school. He always climbed up a tree just outside the school and looked out from its tallest branch and through its leaves to see the mountains sweeping around the forest of his village. He had no idea how Central City looked, but he had a feeling that it didn't have much natural beauty like his village did. Sure, he felt isolated and alone out here, but there was something about the tranquil mountains in the distance that always made him think of safety.

Of course, the only problem with sightseeing, in Sonic's case, is that napping is inevitable. And Sonic enjoyed any nap he could get his hands on. A couple hours passed after being let out of school and climbing to his perch, and it was 5 pm when Sonic felt gravity pulling on him and grasped both hands onto the branch to hold him in place. He assumed that would be the end of his sightseeing for now.

The sun was halfway through setting as Sonic reached the last few steps to his home. It was only slightly dark, and he was certain Uncle Chuck wouldn't get on his case for being away from school for two hours more than usual. Not even this time.

But he noticed something off about the front door; it was open just a crack. His uncle never liked leaving doors open. Sonic was surprised to see it already open.

_Did he need fresh air?_ Sonic questioned. _I didn't see him in the village._

Sonic slowly stepped his way through the doorway, not seeing a single light on inside. The place was nearly black. But as he took another step upon another, he noticed that one light was on: the kitchen light. Sonic quickened his walk to investigate.

Upon reaching the counter, he made out a small note slapped on the surface. Sonic looked off to the side to see an unfinished coffee maker still sitting next to the sink. He scoffed a little before reaching for the note. It was his uncle's handwriting, but messy and hurried.

_Sonny boy,_

_I never really wanted you to read this ever, but I've come to a point where I need to take care of some very old business. I thought I had left it all behind, but I just kept getting roped in again by another one of Kintobor's deals. He was that doctor I worked with in Central City. I told you about him when you were very little... and when I still worked with him. And, if you're reading this, then that means this is the one deal I won't be able to walk from. I'm sorry, Sonic, but I can't let you get involved with this. I don't know how well things will go if I don't figure a way out of this, but I certainly know that you'll know what to do, even without me. Please don't come for me._

_Your loving uncle,_

_Uncle Charles_

Sonic couldn't have dropped the paper any faster. He stumbled back against the wall, looking around the kitchen with frenzied eyes. There were no other lights on; just the kitchen light, with an open front door to accompany the uneasy feeling dwelling within the teen hedgehog's panicked heart.

"What do I… what… what am I supposed to do?" Sonic couldn't help but question the nonexistent Uncle Chuck that should have been in the house. He was worried absolutely sick, and this discovery made his lunch nearly come back up on him.

But he suddenly remembered something as he attempted to calm himself down and control his overwhelming emotions. Though he was doing a terrible job at managing himself, he worked to stand away from the wall on his own two legs and quickly picked up the note. He began skimming… skimming…

"…_that doctor I worked with in Central City."_

The words clicked in his head. If his uncle had hidden business, what better place to stay hidden than a place his nephew had never been to? It all made sense in Sonic's head, and he absolutely couldn't let this pass without his say-so. Whatever this Kintobor doctor was trying to do, he would not take his uncle along with it. Not now, and not ever.

Sonic didn't know what he would do if he found them. But he would never believe his uncle's words; there was always something to do to stop something like this… even if you have no talent.

He folded the paper up in quarters and threw it into his sling backpack, quickly running back to the front door. He slipped the pack back on, rushing out of the house, leaving the kitchen light on in his wake.

He didn't know how he would get there, but he knew he'd get to Central City… no matter the cost.

* * *

**Hey, guys! Thanks for all the responses to this story. I didn't expect it to get off the ground so quickly. Again, I thank you very much. If you guys have any questions (that are more about the rules of this book's universe and not about spoilers), please PM me and I'll message you back if I think it's a legitimate one. Thank you for your time, and I'll see in the next chapter.**


	3. 2 - Kintobor

**Chapter 2: Kintobor**

Charles always hated the warehouses he used for storage back in his time with Kintobor Industries. He though it would be a lucky break into the spotlight (and it was to some extent), but the storage facilities they were forced to use for their… less-successful endeavors… were always extremely unsettling. But he did find it fitting that the doctor decided to use one of them for this meeting. Strapped into his vest and combat boots, he didn't want to take a chance.

The door opened to a long, dank hallway, filled with barely running ceiling lights and carvings on the wall. He was a couple of rooms into the building, and he was already getting tired of going through doors. A light gaped through an open passage on the right side of the hall at the end, and some shadows passed near its threshold, letting Chuck know he was headed in the right direction.

"Doc," the 48 year-old man called out, closing in on the passage with a homemade taser in hand, "I know you're there. And… I guess you know I'm here now. Let's not start this with a fight."

A small chuckle of jolly Santa-like laughter sounded from beyond the passage. Charles backed up against the wall, standing right next to the opening.

"Oh, don't you ever think, Charles?" The shadow seemed to laugh on the floor beyond the threshold. "I never want to start fights… I simply want to end them."

The hedgehog winced, knowing his old friend was in the wrong as he always had been.

"Well, we're not ending a fight tonight, Doc." Chuck warned the old man.

"Of course, of course. I read your terms well enough." The man stated, though Charles took that as a patronizing comment. "Oh, and do put your taser away. Like you said, we shouldn't start a fight."

Chuck quietly jumped in surprise; he hadn't said anything about a weapon… or his taser for that matter. Peaking back down the hall, he could a small red light shining from the upper corner near the door… a small camera.

Charles chuckled to himself as he looked back at his taser. "You always were a little better at thinking ahead."

The hedgehog slipped the taser into his vest, slowly making his way into the middle of the passage, finally looking past the threshold at his objective.

"Nice to see you again, despite the circumstances." Chuck grimaced at his old friend.

On the other side sat an older-looking man, in his 40 or 50s, wearing a hot-rod red cloak and a pair of one-way lenses that blocked his eyes from being seen. He was mostly overshadowed by the generated light that sat beside him, the light blue waves of color brushing along the side of his particularly combed mustache. He sat with his body pointed towards the doorway, for he was a little off to the right as Chuck entered.

His fingers were crossed as he leaned against a console atop a small pedestal. The pedestal was round, with a small crevice surrounding the inside that bordered the console from the outer rim. Chuck could only assume that they released some sort of plasma shield or glass dome for protection against something. But if the doctor was really adhering to his end of the bargain, then there had to be something else planned.

"Come on, then." The doctor grinned back, fingers still crossed. "Let us talk."

And whatever that "something else" was, Charles was sure he wouldn't like it.

* * *

The forest was dark, tall, and long. It was so dark that Sonic could barely see the lights coming from beyond the trees just miles ahead. It was so tall that the bark of every tree covered nearly every inch of building Sonic was trying to make out. It was so long that Sonic was becoming too tired to run any longer. But he had barely made it to the edge of the forest, only after an hour of running straight from his Knothole lookout tree to what looked like shining lights in the distance.

He had never spent much time outside after dark. He usually stayed inside and lay in his bed thinking about how his life was going. There was not much for a talentless person to do. But this whole situation brought a revelation to him: from his tree, when 5 pm rolled around, he could see the smallest of lights coming from far beyond the mountains. And he judged that that little light was coming from the only city he had known. There was a path way only a few feet from the tree that led in its general direction, and Sonic was sure to follow it.

At last he collapsed at the edge, huffing for another breath as he picked merely his head to see what he had been searching for… and it was stunning.

Central City… a metropolis, lit up by building lights and street lamps, cars roaming around the streets without much aggression or interruption. There were towering skyscrapers, some small middle-class urban apartments, and a few warehouses spread out across the city's blocks. It was only 6 pm now, but the city still seemed just as glorious as his uncle had described it. And as he picked himself up from his moat in the dirt, he remembered why his uncle could describe the city that well… because he had been there before.

"Well, I know he wouldn't go to a coffee shop or a cafeteria to do his little talk." The outcast reasoned to himself. "So he's gotta have something else… somewhere no one else would think to look."

Sonic didn't know much about the city layout, but he was ready to reason about any likely place a secret meeting would go. His uncle had always described to him the majesty of the urban centers and high-reaching monuments of living, but he had only left one detail that had caught Sonic's attention upon his first impression: the warehouses seemed so out of place. Not simply because they were the smallest buildings along the city building heights he could comprehend. The one closest to him (that he could see the details of) had small cracks at its corners and rust forming near its sunroof holes; there were even gaping holes in the walls. It was easy to tell that these buildings hadn't been used for a while. But more importantly was how few of these warehouses there were. Clearly, there was no big need for warehouses. And perhaps the city's crews had constructed newer buildings atop the sights of rubble that once held a warehouse.

Whatever the case, the warehouses seemed like the best bet. There was no legitimate sign that read "secret meeting place" or anything that could relate to his uncle or this Kintobor person, but he had a feeling that the buildings were too old to have a clue if they were even related to his him, let alone his uncle. But he had to try something. So he went searching.

He kept crossing streets haphazardly, nearly being rushed down by speedy cars. The pedestrians found it extremely jarring to see this plain hedgehog walking amongst the extraordinary masses. And Sonic could feel their scrutiny; he was taking apart their little equilibrium. It wasn't broken, but he certainly knew how much he was throwing off the Central City groove.

But every warehouse he managed to find a way inside of, whether it was via the rusty door or a low enough wall crevice, there was no sign of life. Maybe some sort of disease or old materials, but never anything remotely Mobian besides the style of architecture. Incredibly urban… not modern, but urban.

In a last ditch attempt, the hedgehog ventured across one more lot to seemingly the last warehouse within his sight. He ran up as quickly as he could, making sure he wasn't missing any others as his head inspected every corner around him. With no sign of mistakes, Sonic stopped his run as he approached the door; if this was the place, he didn't want to make himself known. Checking his watch, he saw it was 6:19. He was making good time, but the sun was beginning to set. He had to hurry up.

The door was on the very left of the front wall, and Sonic felt like this particular was bigger than the others he had been to. Furthermore, there seemed to be less cracks and crevices in the structure, and there were also a decent amount of windows that were put in a second floor (if the warehouse had a second floor anymore. Then again, it was looking better than the others, so he put that aside).

Sonic didn't have a clue as to how to approach this; he had no talent for sneaking, and none for planning, like his dad did. Perhaps the best approach was to go inside. But what if they're on the other side? What if they're expecting someone? What if this was the plan all along? What if they're not in a warehouse? What if...?

A cry of agony resounded from within its greater walls, and Sonic's ears and head perked up at the sudden outcry. A flash of blue light shun from the second story windows. Sonic had no idea if his uncle was in there, but something was definitely going down. And in the heat of the moment, there was this gut feeling that came over him and told him to do something about this. So he listened to his adrenaline-soaked mind and turned the knob of the door, walking inside. Perhaps he was on the right track after all.

* * *

Charles was panicking; he had no idea it would come to this. How could he let his guard down so low that he could essentially force him into this position? And even if he put his guard up at that moment, he still couldn't have actually done anything. And either way, the doctor would be laughing as hysterically as he was then.

"Are you… enjoying yourself over there?" Chuck winced as he tried his best release from the locks.

The big man simply turned in his chair and continued to laugh at his work.

"I'm sorry…" He managed to say through fits of coughing laughter, "I just never thought it would be so easy. After years of meeting like this, didn't you ever conceive that my last would be completely and utterly final? There is nothing I want to leave behind."

The blue light was beginning to look unstable, but the doctor was confident that it would remain in that state until further interaction. The hedgehog was becoming tired of his efforts, realizing that escape was inconceivable.

"There are plenty of things you've left behind, Doc." Charles huffed as he tried to control his breathing. "I can promise you that."

"You can't promise me anything!" He retorted. "After you gave up on our work, I lost all faith in the Mobian race. None of you realize where society needs to go. And that's why I'm proud of what I've left behind, because it was worse than what we now have: technology."

"Your technology is sick and twisted!" The hedgehog yelped.

"My technology is ripe with perfection… an art of humanity that you Mobians fail to attain!" The doctor immediately replied.

"When did this become about the Mobians and humans, doctor? Since when did it come down to enlightenment?" Chuck's face grew redder in anger as the argument continued onward.

"Technology is one of the greatest achievements of mankind." The doctor put sternly, staring a tired Chuck down for the count. "And the people of Mobius lack the motivation to further utilize it for the betterment of their race."

The doctor leaned forward, with a sort of shattered grin running beneath his lengthy mustache.

"You were promising, Charles. You truly were." The doctor truthfully told, now beginning to lean back. "But now you're against me. You're against 'synthesis'. And I can't have that ruining my work… OUR work."

"I'm not giving in, Kintobor!" Chuck yelped at last.

"I never counted on it." The man grinned slyly back. "And do stop calling me 'doctor' and 'Kintobor'. Not a good enough name for someone who is paving the way to salvation. I've no idea of an alias, but I assume it won't matter in the end. You see, there is a reason as to why I brought this energy mass, you know."

Kintobor turned his chair to look towards the blue light that was overwhelming Charles in his bonds.

"Well, it probably wasn't just to blind me." He tried to joke during his crisis.

"Ha! Oh, you think you can win me over with your humor." Kintobor snickered to himself before turning back to the light. "So adorable. No, this little bit of light has been due to the amounts of work I put into archeological study and research. And I am glad to have harnessed its source for its power."

"Source? What source?" Chuck nervously questioned, awaiting the answer.

The doctor turned his head to his old friend… and just started to laugh his jolly Santa laugh.

"But it's no surprise if I just tell you." Kintobor began to pull himself together after the outburst. "That's for me to know… and you to never find out!"

"But I will find out!" Charles proclaimed.

"But you won't. One more small contact with this energy ball, and I can set off a catastrophe so great…" the doctor paused as he leaned forward with a malicious smile beginning to grow, "that not even you precious little nephew will be alive to know what happened."

"NO! HE WILL!"

Kintobor turned his head swiftly to the passage… and was extremely surprised not by what he saw… but that Charles had to turn his head to see what it was too.

* * *

Sonic stood with a gasp of air taking center stage. He couldn't believe his eyes; his uncle was trapped on a tray in shackles, and this big man (presumably Kintobor) was staring at him with a confused expression, his eyebrows lifting from his one-way shades.

"Sonny boy?!" Uncle Chuck exclaimed, nearly losing all of his air.

"This is your nephew?!" The big man exclaimed in reply.

The whole room was massive, but the centerpiece was so small compared to what he expected. There was this blue light, hovering over the ground and sparking with seemingly endless plasma electricity. This thing looked mental.

"What is it you want from him?" Sonic asked loudly, trying to hold back his tears from seeing his uncle safe and near him.

The doctor was entirely speechless; he never thought a teenage kid would intervene in this contest of wills. And that changed a lot of his plan. Now he had more explaining to do. Or maybe…

The doctor turned back to Sonic, and Chuck was entirely frightened of what could happen next.

"Normally, I would explain how great things will be after this…" The doctor attempted to say calmly, "… but this is no time for formalities!"

The doctor reached his hands to the console controls, lifting up a wall of his console to reveal an energy beam. The beam shot out and tugged onto Uncle Chuck.

"No! Not him!" Sonic exclaimed in great fear as he stumbled a little further into the room.

The doctor lifted the elder hedgehog a little above the light, slightly in front to provide his silhouette to the estranged kid.

"This is what will be remembered in my elder years as 'The Cleansing of Mobian Civilization'!" The doctor proclaimed, beginning to seal his console with a glass dome from the pedestal's seams. "And I will be remembered as the one who finally rid this world of its fear to progress!"

Chuck continued to struggle in his energy bond, and Sonic was trembling on his knees, unable to process what all this meant; he just wanted his uncle back. And his uncle was far from done.

"Kintobor, wait! You don't know what this thing will do? What if it does something else or something more than what it intended? Kintobor, please-!"

"Enough with 'Kintobor' this and 'doctor' that! It may do many things, but I know of one thing it can and will do! Forget the name of Kintobor! For in your final moments, here and now, the only name you will remember…" the man paused as he readied his hands to release control, "… is that of Robotnik!"

The man's hands came undone, and the beam evaporated. Chuck was beginning his descent. Even a slight nick of the ball would begin the reaction. And Sonic may not have known this, but… in the heat of the moment… you have to do something you feel is right.

"NO! UNCLE CHUCK!" The outcast exclaimed in horror as he sprang from his knees and sprinted as hard as he could to his descending guardian. His uncle's quills were beginning to touch the surface of the light, and the reaction was brewing up to its boiling point. And all in an instant, Sonic leapt from one spot and ended up tackling his uncle at the waist mid-fall. And his uncle went further into the energy ball, beginning to make the chain reaction process faster. But something remarkable happened.

During the tackle, Sonic was so close to the light that his top quills actually nicked themselves into the ball of light as well. And so the light gave off more of electricity than plasma. Uncle Chuck could not have noticed in those final moments, but Robotnik most certainly did. He cringed in his seat and doubled over from his chair, hoping the glass dome would protect him from this new form of energy being released.

Sonic could feel something rush further inside of his mind and body, and in the next millisecond, the light erupted all around the room. The vast echo of broken sound barriers cut off the sounds of screaming; a machine unhooked from another mechanism and a burst of engine noise escaped nearby, and the only things that were left in that room were dangling lamps, a fractured pedestal, and an unconscious hedgehog… who was changing in his sleep.

As blue electricity seemed to spark in and out of his morphing body, there came words... a voice from the outside... from far beyond his mortal coil.

"You are the one who can channel the Chaos."

* * *

**Thank you for your support, and I hope to see you in the next update!**


	4. 3 - Controlling Stimuli

**Chapter 3: Controlling Stimuli**

Sirens wailing… eardrums returning… the shouting of many men... of doors being broken down…

The dark walls… vision coming back… many uniformed men rushing in… looking confused and startled…

Hands twitching… body retrieving feeling… feet rocking side-to-side… eyes twitching open and looking around.

"Weapons down, guys!" A wolf cried out from the front as the other officers burst into the room. "It's just a kid."

He knelt down as slowly as he could to the now heavy-panting hedgehog.

"What's wrong with him, sir?" A feline officer called out. "He looks like he had a seizure."

"I don't know, Jasper. It's not my job to know what's wrong with people like this!" The wolf replied harshly before turning back to the victim.

"E-e-except it is, sir." Jasper replied, hoping his boss would tell him what's going on.

"I don't need your attitude, Jasper." The wolf reasoned while inspecting the body. Just your trust in what I'm doing."

The hedgehog was in a sort of paralysis; he could see what was happening, but he wasn't able to move. The officer wasn't doing anything to restrain him, and he found it odd that he had become so easily stuck due to nothing.

The officer continued to inspect the victim. There were no signs of a struggle. In fact, he seemed quite normal in terms of his appearance; his fur was shade of cerulean blue, and his tired eyes seemed to glow a radiant emerald green. He had only about five quills in the back of his head, and two back quills plus a tail. His shoes seemed a little… distorted… though they seemed to have once been blue. They were a huddled mess now.

"What did they say happened here on the phone? An explosion?" Another wolf inquired.

"Something like that." The first wolf answered, looking into the tired eyes of the hedgehog. "A very lacking explosion. Didn't bring any walls down. Must have been an EMP of some sort."

He began to reach a hand out to pat the hedgehog's shoulder.

"You okay, son?" He asked as his hand reached his arm.

Sonic snapped up from the wall onto his feet, nearly knocking the officer down on his back. The whole team quickly took a couple steps back and reached for their guns.

"We got a speedster!" A man called out in the squad of police as he attempted to pull his weapon free.

"Stop, wait!" The wolf cried out. "He's just scared!"

But Sonic was not scared; if anything, he was confused. How did he snap up like that? He had never reacted to something so quickly? Everyone had always made fun of him for not having sharp reflexes… what was the sudden shift? Everything was too much of a blur now for him to figure it out.

The officers lifted their hands away from their guns, and the wolf began to stand up. Sonic didn't like the small gang of police that was forming around him, and he certainly was not going to let time get the better of him; there was no time to waste… he had to figure out what the heck just happened. And in what seemed like the passing of one thought onto the next, Sonic had run out of the room, through the passage, and back out through the doors. And the officers… they had nothing to go after… he was just too fast.

* * *

The door to the warehouse's exterior broke down only moments after the cops were left alone in the big room. Sonic stumbled quickly out of the broken doorway, carrying no significant injury aside from his estranged sense of self. He saw the parked cop cars set up in the parking lot and forced himself to the right, trying to avoid any easy chase for him… if there was a chase.

"Central City… Central… City…" Sonic muttered to himself while trying to slow down a bit as he tripped towards the sidewalk, "… right. That's where I am right now." And that's when he looked up and saw the sun in the west sky. It was rising from the other side of the city. His side was closer to the village of Knothole. And since he looked east to see the sunset, he assumed that it was now morning. He looked down at his wrist to see if he had the time... 6:23.

_Really? The sun doesn't usually come up till 7 or so, _hedgehog murmured as he looked back up the sky for a couple more seconds.

"Move it, kid!" A man shrieked, and Sonic instantly turned his head back onto the road… and realized that he had moved into the lanes.

"Oh crap!" He instantly blurted out, hoping to find refuge on the other side of the road.

He took one step… and fifteen more steps generated themselves afterwards. Sonic bolted from the road onto the sidewalk, and just before he could have rammed into a wall, his foot planted itself against the wall and automatically adjusted his body to run up the side. And he flew straight past the edge of the roof, clearing a good five feet of air before reaching its peak.

"I did not plan on doing that!" The hedgehog shrieked as he began his descent. At the last moment, Sonic flipped himself around and reached his hand out, latching onto the ledge of the building just before losing his arm's reach. He flung his other hand onto the ledge, pulling himself up and over onto the building's surface… and the drivers were floored not because they had never seen a speedster before… but because they had never seen a speedster go so fast.

Sonic was heaving heavy breaths on the roof. He wasn't tired or anything… he was just screwed up in the head now.

"How on Mobius did I just do that?" Sonic gasped, picking his head from the ground. "I almost fell onto the sidewalk… again!"

Looking back down at the street, the cars seemed to be moving along now. But peeking back at the warehouse, he could see the officers stumbling out of the entryway. Sonic grimaced at the sight, knowing they would be in pursuit soon enough after collecting themselves.

"Suppose I'll have to get clear and back to Knothole." He whispered to himself, quickly standing up on his legs and peering out over the city horizon. "They won't expect something like me hanging out there."

He took another step… but this time he thought about his step before planting his foot. He tried not to think too spontaneously and dramatically. He had to control his stimuli and reactions. And he had a regular step.

"What is this? What's with the whole…" He began before remembering what had happened just the night before. His uncle… the doctor… the light… the crash…

He couldn't let the emotions get to him right now. For now, he had t accept that something had happened that night that influenced this new behavior. Perhaps he could find some help over Knothole… maybe even from Tails. But he had to worry about getting there first.

"So I just have to be conscious of my movements…" he began as he took another normal step, "and I can control it. Heh… hope I have good steering."

"Kid! What are you doing up there?!" The hedgehog poked his head back at the warehouse to see a shouting wolf officer.

And Sonic had no words… no jokes… just a smirk and a two-finger salute.

BOOM! He was already beginning to take his steps, and heaved himself quickly onto the building just next door on that block, and then hopped down onto the next. And as he reached the ledge and saw the road gap between his block and the next, he pushed away with both of his legs, flipping himself forwards to gain more forward momentum… carrying him over the traffic cars and just barely onto the roof of the next building.

"What in the what?!" The wolf shouted in amazement.

Sonic only had time to look back for a second before bringing his focus back onto clear more gaps and hopping onto other roofs. And the officers could only watch as the hedgehog retreated from the sunset and out of sight. Jasper patted his superior wolf on the back.

"Hey, at least he wasn't a bad one, right?" He joked.

The wolf growled back at his peer, "This was not in the job detail. We should have at least helped to the hospital! There was something up with that kid."

"How would you know? You aren't qualified to know what's wrong with people, right?" The cat snarkily replied.

The wolf could only stare the cat down in disagreement.

* * *

Sonic burst through the trail at the speed of a huge wind; there was this massive feeling of excitement every time he weaved down each twist and turn of the path. And he was getting better at controlling his reflexes; he began to practice dodging inbetween trees, getting a feel for what he now had in his possession.

He came to a sudden halt right as he reached the village, stumbling to fully stand still on his toes. Once he found his feet situated, he looked up and around to see… people looking at him. It was no massive crowd, but the usual few pedestrians still on the road that morning were astounded at the sight of him.

_I guess no one expected me to show up so quickly, _Sonic thought to himself as he turned down the road to run over to his home._ Serves them right._

He took one step and burst off down the road, clearing the path all the way to his uncle's cabin. Bursting through the front door, he soon realized that the house was still fairly dark, and he flipped on the lights near the door. And as he shut the door, he realized two things: for one thing, he had just run all the way to his uncle's house from the other end of the path in, like, three seconds, and he had also just ran from Central City all the way back to Knothole in 30 seconds. Whatever he had going on that day, it was certainly a blast.

But now that Sonic was in the privacy of his home, he had time to readjust and think about what just happened… and boy, was he clueless as to where to start. For one thing, his body felt really strange… as if it had shifted in his sleep. And he wasn't sure how he felt about that. He controlled his steps, walking away from the door and back down the hallway to his bedroom. He came inside with severe curiosity, tossing his backpack over onto his bed as he turned to face his mirror. What had happened to him last night? Why did he feel so…

"Holy crap!" The hedgehog exclaimed at the first sight of his face.

He was blue… blue! Why was he blue? He turned his head and noticed that his quills were fewer than they were yesterday. Perhaps they merged together? He checked behind him, seeing two back quills and his tail… all blue.

"Was it paint… or did I just get pranked?" Sonic kept guessing as he checked his legs. "What is all this?"

And so he looked down at his shoes… his distorted looking shoes. They weren't blue anymore… but they were seemingly fried. They had a firm structure, but the whole substance had turned into a thick black goop. Though it somehow didn't reek of horrible smells, the image of his burnt shoes was very off-putting to Sonic.

He kept rattling his mind for a possibility… a reason as to how he ended up with his new paint job and abilities. Where did this all come from?

And the images of the doctor and his uncle came rushing back. He had suppressed for only minutes before he fell into their grasp once again. Sonic couldn't believe it had happened; his uncle was gone. And it was all because of that Kintobor character… or "Robotnik"… whatever his name was now.

It was an explosion… but it didn't really kill or devastate anything. Sonic thought he would have seen some remnant of his uncle in the warehouse, even in his sporadic escape. But even when thinking back to only minutes ago, it was hard to picture any evidence inside that room. The explosion also did nothing to him either. The blast must have affected him in such a way that this speed thing happened. Or maybe he affected the blast. And he wasn't even really hurt or broken… just a little disoriented… a confusion that his mind recovered from quite quickly.

Could that speed power of his work with his internal processes as well? Perhaps faster thinking or maybe even a healing factor? He was having trouble even coming up with guesses. But whatever the case was, Sonic knew he had a power now. Never before had he thought he would ever get one.

"I guess Uncle Chuck was right." He whispered to himself, siting himself down on his bed. He heaved his elbow onto his leg, holding his chin up with his hand in thought. There was a slight smile on his face due to this discovery… but it never flourished as he realized that his uncle was no longer there with him anymore. This was his house now… a little cabin in a village. This was where he lived... alone.

Sonic shoke his head quickly; he didn't want to become depressed in his thoughts. He wanted to figure this out. There was too much that happened that last night, and he wanted to find a way to set things right. He didn't know what to set right or how to do so… but it was just this gut feeling he had… that something needed to be done.

And in one swift flick of the head, Sonic instantly thought of one person he could talk to that could help him clear his mind and find something to do from there. And in the next instant, he was out of his room and through the front door back into the village.

* * *

"You got your books ready, Mily?" The woman fox yelped from beyond the basement door.

"Yes, Mom!" Miles yelped back from his worktable.

"And don't forget your lunch bag!" She shouted back, louder this time, as Miles assumed she was heading out the door.

"I never do, Mom! You know me!" He replied with a smile.

"I certainly do! Bye, honey!" She said as the door closed shut from upstairs.

Miles chuckled to himself as he turned back to his worktable, wiring up a decent-sized motor on his table. The thing was twice his head size, and yet the kitsune knew he could reduce it to small pieces in moments if he worked fast enough.

The fox's lab was set up in his basement, but he fashioned it to look like a quaint cabin room. There were some small green rugs spread out across the floor to compliment the oak wood that covered up the previously stonewalls. His worktable was in the middle of the room, more or less, with some room left next to the stairs to allow for more freedom in passing the table on either side. Bookshelves, lined up on the wall in front of the staircase, were set perfectly to be in his line of sight whenever he looked up from a project, in case he needed to find a book for instructions… and that was something he rarely needed to do. And a small computer set-up with two monitors was housed right in the back of the room, small office chair and everything.

Miles never liked to think he was spoiled. TO be honest, his lab only looked this way because his mom loved his work and wanted him to succeed. And she had been trying very hard in those last couple of years to get a decent job, whether it was in Knothole or out in Central City. And when she got asked in for a job at a hospital in Central City, she was ecstatic; Miles had never seen his mom look so happy since Dad had left those many years ago on his fifth birthday. But he didn't really know him back then… so it didn't affect him that much. In any case, his mom was excited, and for that last year, Miles's mother truly gave him everything he would need to be qualified for a job in Central City. And while he did appreciate her efforts, the young fox told her very often that she never had to do all of it. And she would always protest and say that he deserved to become a great man "just like your dad."

But he was always thinking bigger… of travelling to far-off cities… getting jobs there and improving lives... creating the greatest technologies and inventions of which Mobians could have ever thought. And he was certain he would get there, worktable or no worktable.

And, I mean, he had his bedroom… but Miles had to admit to himself that the basement lab was more his room than any other part of the house.

He looked down to his watch, making sure he was not late yet.

"7:45…" he read to himself, "… Okay, just one more adjustment and then I go."

And as he popped in another tube to the machine, Miles felt a gust of wind rush into his house, as if a god had slapped his house away and he was just feeling the turbulence. But in shock, as he nearly tripped over himself away from the stairs, Miles looked back to the entrance only to see a blue hedgehog having descended from the stairs. He had a smirk on his face… and Miles had met only one hedgehog… and he never usually smiled.

"Sorry for the interruption, Miles." The hedgehog started out, feeling slightly proud of his entrance just then… and also a little perplexed as to how he pulled it off so smoothly. "Just thought I'd drop by and see how you are doing."

The young fox stood up slowly, keeping constant eye contact with his… visitor. He seemed familiar… but there was this uneasy feeling about how he looked.

"How do you know my name?" Miles asked with slight nervousness, tiptoeing back over to his worktable to keep his spot at the center of the room.

"What? How could you not-?" The hedgehog began, but he cut himself off as he looked down and noticed his attire and looks. "Oh! Right! I'm sorry. There's a lot to explain."

Miles nodded slowly, still staring at the hedgehog. "Yeah, there is."

"Miles," the hedgehog grumbled, "It's me, Sonic. I know it may not seem correct right now, but it is… I made sure of it in the mirror a few minutes ago."

Miles stepped a little closer, inspecting his intruder. The hedgehog was a little nervous about the fox's attitude; he seemed afraid of what might happen if the answer was the wrong one. The fox squinted and gave him a once-over, noting anything that might clue him in on the truth. And then he looked at the eyes.

Sure, they were green, but there was this tender feeling about them… that they had seen a lot of torment and sadness. The brows had once drooped low, due to the small bulges made around the eyebrow area. But now they seemed up and more positive. And this chipper attitude, though very new, was a welcome change to what he had seen just the other day. Miles let his eyelids move apart, allowing him to see the full picture, and he slowly began to smile as he found the truth.

"Sonic?" He seemed to almost gasped.

"You got it, kid." He answered.

"Oh, wow, this is so cool!" Tails began to hop excitedly, but soon retaining his composure after his moment of joy. "What happened? How did you get so… so...?"

"Blue?" Sonic finished, receiving a nod from Miles that prompted him to attempt an explanation. "Well… I did some investigating last night… and one thing led to another… and I got knocked out, and the next thing I know, I'm running at high speeds over streets and dodging trees at the last second. I don't know how to explain it to you right now… but some crazy stuff happened last night."

Tails began to smile, but soon he remembered something important as his face became quite serious. "Wait… Sonic, what time is it?"

Sonic quickly flipped his wrist up to his face.

"It… is…" he dramatically announced the time, "6:23!"

"Wait, what?!" The little fox flipped his watch up too, but then gave Sonic a more critical look. "Sonic, you liar! It's 7:50!"

As Miles scurried upstairs to grab his books and lunch, Sonic stood dumbfounded in his wake.

"Oh…" he noted to himself, "…maybe that cop was right about that EMP thing. My watch stopped during the bang! That's just awes-wait… Miles… Miles! Wait!"

He zoomed up the stairs as he heard the door to the house shut.

* * *

The fox began to run before hopping into the air, twirling his tails like a plane rotor and began to lift off. Only seconds later did he hear the door suddenly bang open behind him with Sonic stumbling out.

"Wait, Miles, it's okay! You won't be late!" He shouted his way at the fox was still taking off.

"It may be Friday, but that's no reason to be late for school, Sonic!" He called back to his friend. "You should know that!"

"Miles!" He began to shout back. "If you come with me, you won't have to hurry or worry!"

Miles stopped for a moment, turning back to his friend with slight fury and curiosity.

"What do you mean by that?" The fox inquired.

Sonic walked his way over to the fox, continuing to explain.

"If I can make it from Central City to Knothole in 30 seconds, I think I can get us to school in about five." He put simply.

Miles was perplexed, even though it seemed true that the hedgehog was now fairly fast.

"But..." he tried and convince Sonic there was no other way… since he didn't much like the idea of going really fast, "… but you don't have your backpack!"

Sonic stopped as he reached the fox, patting his back for something that wasn't there.

"Oh, you're right!" He stated, and then, without hesitation, he zoomed back down the path… only to return seconds later with his backpack now latched onto him.

"There, all set!" He said proudly.

Miles was still stunned at his moves… and so were some of the people who were still walking their way to school. People were noticing big time.

"Well, we'd best get going then." The fox replied, scared of the outcome.

"You got it." The speedster said, grasping onto Miles's hand in the process.

"Wait…" Miles gasped in slight panic, looking for a decent way to phrase his question without hurting his friend, "This… won't hurt, will it?"

"It might…" Sonic attempted to answer, "… but I'll go 10 seconds slower just for you."

Though he found that it made no difference to some extent, the kitsune nodded with a small smile, ready to face the moment to come.

"Ready?" Sonic began, lifting his foot up for the first step. "Let's go!"

And everyone watched as the two simply vanished down the road in a blue and orange blur.

* * *

**Thank you all for your kind words! It feels awesome to know that people care about where this story is headed. Keep on reading, for I am sure you will how in-depth this story will get very soon! See you in the next chapter!**


	5. 4 - His Room

**Chapter 4: His Room**

Sonic thought that Miles would have hurled right after they arrived at the school in those 15 seconds… but the little guy loved it to death! Regaining his footing after the sudden stop, Miles looked up at Sonic with this strange and outrageous look of astonishment.

"Holy crap! That was awesome! Can you take me back home like that?" Miles asked in a frenzy.

People were already turning heads at the winds that picked up during Sonic's arrival, but Sonic's appearance there was almost obscure to some. They were not used to whatever he just did… clearly, since the people who usually shouted insults on the way into the building now kept their mouths shut.

"I would do that right now, but I'll just let you get to class. Don't want you panicking anymore." The hedgehog smiled at Miles, who smiled back and ran off into the building with a slight skip in his step. It was like he had met a celebrity.

Sonic knew that speedsters were common, so there was nothing weird about him running at that speed. But what made him feel like a celebrity was how everyone was beginning to treat him differently. The guys who always messed with him kept their eyes away from his when he walked down the halls, and the girls were extremely curious as to how Sonic went from a mess to... well, he couldn't be too sure. You know how girls can be.

And as he strolled through the building to his next class, he noticed that he needed to change a couple things about himself if he wanted to get by now: first, he had to work on his attitude. There was no use having this power if he didn't actually embrace it. And secondly (and possibly most importantly), he needed new shoes… since his old ones were grimy at the moment… and still on his feet.

_Hopefully I don't get sent back for hygiene issues…_ Sonic thought to himself as he closed in on the door to his homeroom class. _Though it wouldn't be the first time…_

And the moment he walked in the room, people were already turning heads at his arrival. It seemed like they had words ready for him, but they all just fell away from their vocal chords down to their stomachs, literally eating their words.

And his teacher, Mrs. Rabbit, was fairly confused as to who just walked, checking her clipboard before standing from her chair and approaching the new hedgehog.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met." She sounded sincere in her statement.

Sonic was almost dumbfounded at her words, but he soon remembered that a lot of people would not really know who he was at the moment. He just had to play it off.

"Oh, sorry, Mrs. Rabbit. It's me, Sonic. I just had an incident last ni-?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Mrs. Rabbit sounded fairly perplexed at his response.

Sonic shifted in his stance… _Does she not remember me?_

"Sonic. That's me. I go here…"

"You don't look like him." She noted firmly.

All of his other classmates, though they knew he was Sonic when he first walked in, had to admit that he looked quite different from his dull color scheme from before.

"I know… very well that I don't look right at the moment." He was slightly agitated as he held back slight chuckles. "But you can trust that it's me."

She tilted her head at him in slight confusion… and Sonic was really weirded out now; his teacher did not even recognize him!

"All right then…" Mrs. Rabbit agreed hesitantly. "I assume you will explain what has happened to the principal, right?"

Sonic smiled as honestly as he could, beginning to walk backwards towards his seat next to the wall. "Of course. No problem, Mrs. Rabbit."

She seemed to give another strange look, then decided to start taking roll. She called out the first name, checked them off, then gave Sonic one more glance before making another check.

_Guess she knows I'm here now, _Sonic noted to himself. He looked around the class, expecting everyone to be giving him the same weird glances, but they were mostly just trying to whisper to him, asking about what made him get a makeover. He squirmed a little in his seat; he was never used to crowds of people or even this many just trying to talk to him. Though he didn't want to be ignorant due to their incessant whispering, Sonic just tried his best to focus on the class. His uncle did want him to work on his math and science…

* * *

Miles was amused that Sonic didn't have a lunch again today, but that didn't matter; in Sonic's frenzy due to the discovery, he rushed back home and got a sandwich made and came back within 30 seconds. The fox just sat at the table preparing his meal as Sonic came walking back into the cafeteria with his own lunch.

"Okay, got it." Sonic proclaimed as he set his paperbag down and slipped into his seat.

"You aren't going to abuse this thing every day, right?" Miles asked him urgently, hesitating to sip his milk.

"Well, not every day." Sonic admitted, pulling his sandwich from his bag. "But I need to break it in little by little. I have no clue what else to do with it except go to places more quickly, so… I guess that's all I can do until I find a better use for it."

As Sonic took a bite of his sandwich (which he gloriously enjoyed), Miles pondered the idea of speedster jobs, still withdrawing from his milk.

"I have no clue what else you could do." He said honestly, finally sipping his milk before continuing on. "I suppose that all you really can do at the moment is just practice."

And at that repeated insight, there was a small silence. In that brief moment, Sonic and Miles had felt their roles slightly shift. Miles had once been talking to a thought-provoked Sonic just the other day. But now Sonic was the one enjoying his lunch, and Miles was the one left thinking. To be honest, neither of them knew what to think of it, but they both let it slide as they returned to conversation; Sonic put his "PB&amp;J" down on his flattened paper bag, swallowing before moving on.

"So what was that thing you were working on in your basement?" He asked casually.

"How'd you know where my house was, first of all?" The fox inquired back.

Sonic felt hurt, but knew that an explanation for his sudden knowledge was needed, "I mean… I was running around… looking for you… and one of the guys at that chilidog place in the middle of town pointed me across the street to you… Rotor, I think his name was."

"Oh! Rotor…" Miles repeated, "… yeah, he's pretty cool. He's always nice to me when my mom takes me over there for lunch sometimes. A family friend, I guess."

Sonic chuckled to himself before continuing. "So what were you doing? Making a bomb or something?"

Miles almost choked on his milk at that guess, placing the carton back on the table. "Heh… not a bomb." He nervously answered. "My mom would never build something like that. No, what I was making was a motor engine."

"For a car?" Sonic assumed, then looked back at the wall. "There aren't any automobiles in the village. That's weird; I just realized that."

"Yeah, same here." Miles agreed before getting back on track, shifting in his seat to fully face Sonic. "But no, the motor is for a plane."

"A plane? That's a big thing to build, man." Sonic commented. "Though that might be just from my usually lazy perspective."

_Lazy? Me? _Sonic thought to himself._ Huh, that's ironic…_

"Of course it is, but I think it's necessary." The kid explained. "Sure, I can fly for a while, but there comes a time when I get tired and I need to land. And I'm working in my endurance in that regard, but I can't fly from, say, here to some place outside of Central City. It'd be extremely tiring. So I need a plane to get other places out of my reach."

"Okay, that makes sense." Sonic agreed. "Need any help with it?"

"Well…" Miles attempted to give the matter some thought, "… maybe later when I'm putting it together, but I'm still on blueprints and crafting for some of the other parts. I should be fine for now."

Sonic was generally impressed with Miles's strategies for seeing his plans through.

"You've gotten good at this over some time, huh?" He noted.

The little fox grew a smirk. "It all comes from practice."

And Sonic returned the smirk back. He barely knew anything about Miles the other day, but he felt like something was beginning to form here… a bond he would never want to forsake.

"Hey, Sonic…" Miles interrupted his train of thought, "… can you actually tell me what happened last night? You didn't give a lot of detail."

Sonic gulped at the idea of the conversation, but he decided that talking to someone about it might help. He shifted in his seat to fully face Miles, taking another bite of his sandwich before heading into the story… the story he realized he might have trouble telling.

"So you remember my uncle, right? The one that forgot my lunch?" He started off.

"Yeah…" Miles answered. "Why? Is this about him not giving you food, 'cause if so…"

"No, it's not about that. As much as I wish it was." Sonic admitted. "You see… my uncle used to work with another guy… a human named Kintobor."

Miles's face seemed to settle into the mood, becoming concerned for what was about to be told.

"Apparently, he and my uncle didn't get along. So my uncle split off and came here as a mechanic. But I found out as of last night that they had been having meetings… Kintobor possibly blackmailing my uncle or something… in any case, these were going on without me even noticing."

"That doesn't seem too bad." Miles commented.

Sonic stared at Miles, a tense emotion welling up in his eyes. "You never went to a meeting."

Miles decided it was best to keep his mouth shut and let Sonic finish.

"He had left a note… and I followed it to Central City. And I looked and looked and finally found him… Kintobor had him pinned down, and he was going to make my uncle activate a detonation… an explosion from this weird plasma ball thing… and I came in trembling before him. And when my uncle started to drop, I went with my gut and tackled him… and then the ball exploded… and I didn't see him when I woke up again this morning…"

At that point, Sonic couldn't continue. He clasped his hand against his eyes, trying to hold back the light sobs, the sobs that were slowly building up.

"And I ran… I ran so fast when I woke up… and I was confused and excited by it all, but… I lost him. I don't know here he is… if he's even still here. He's gone, and I… I can't get him back!"

The hedgehog brought both of his hands up to his eyes now, attempting to keep the tears against his shattered face. He hadn't given the event much thought… but now he realized just painful it truly was. Just how bad things had truly turned. He began to hiccup tears in his slouched-over seat, wishing he wasn't crying in the cafeteria, let alone in one of its corners at a lonely table.

But in his low outburst of tears and pain, he soon felt warmth… a warmth he hadn't felt in a few days since his last hug with his uncle. And as he slipped his hands slowly away from his eyes, he could see an orange-furred shoulder just below his nose. And two tails swaying slowly as the warmth continued. His sobs were still fresh, but he was becoming more startled about the hug.

"It's okay, Sonic. It's gonna be all right." The little fox assured him in this kind, whispering tone.

It felt so strange… to have this 14 year-old take care of him… and so the roles shifted back.

"I… I miss him…" Sonic attempted to say through startled tears, reaching his arms around the fox to return the hug. "I miss him so much right now."

"You're going to be fine. You'll have it all figured out. I'm sure of it." Miles told him, hugging just a little bit tighter.

And Sonic couldn't help but smile at the tightening grasp they had on each other. In only 24 hours, Sonic had found a kid who cherished him as much as his uncle did… and that was a bizarre but happy feeling that he never wanted to leave behind. That's what Sonic needed… he needed family.

"T-thank you…" Sonic stuttered through tears. "… T-Tails…"

Miles seemed to feel confused; Sonic felt his head tilt at the word.

"Tails?" The kitsune repeated.

"I know you don't like the name Miles…" Sonic explained. "So I just… gave you a nickname… sound okay?"

Sonic could feel Miles nod. "Yeah… yeah, Tails is good."

* * *

He had never actually seen his uncle's room; he had only seen the man walk out of it on certain mornings when he woke up early. And he had never thought about what was on the other side until he came walking back down the hallway to his room.

Sonic couldn't take a step past the door over to his room. It had never occurred to him how much the rules had changed. Turning his head over to the lifeless entrance, Sonic couldn't help but think about how easy it would be to find out what Uncle Chuck used to do… why he did it.

_He's not here anymore…_ Sonic reasoned to himself. _He can't hide anything from me now. Even if it does hurt to see it._

The hedgehog made a bold step over to his room, swiftly opening the door to toss his backpack on his bed. And just before the pack hit his sheets he was already at his uncle's bedroom door.

_This is my house now. I deserve to know what's in it…_

Sonic looked down at the gold knob, ridden with scratches and rust. He could see how often his uncle had done his best to open and close the door to make sure his nephew never knew what was inside. The desperation… the secrets… it was all on that doorknob. And Sonic wanted to turn it and see what it had now.

As soon as his fingers touched, he felt this adrenaline run through him, and the door swiveled open in an instant—a chain reaction within his speedster body. And wat he saw was… shockingly quaint.

Uncle Chuck's room was not one you'd find in a mansion or a secret lab; Sonic found it to be a nice cabin bedroom. The room itself was a square, but at a diagonal. The door opened up to the bed wedged into the far corner from the center of the room. A desk sat against the left wall closest to the door, with a small desk lamp and piled-up folders and research papers lying scattered across its surface. And there was a small television sitting at the right wall closest to the door, a small couch sitting a few feet away from the screen.

What was striking to Sonic was the dust; on his uncle's desk, there seemed to be dust all over the piles of folders and papers, as if he had never touched. The hedgehog knew his uncle was a fairly clean and orderly man… unless that was only a mask for the truth.

Looking at the papers currently on the desk, Sonic could see multiple research topics and projects sprawled across the top of each page: "Temporal Distortions Through Speed"… "The Lifeform Project"… "Light Speed Bursts Via Ring Energy"… "Project Shadow"…

None of this made sense to him; were these all of his uncle's secrets? What he had been hiding from him? He expected something important… something that would tell him what just happened… why his uncle and Robotnik were even still talking to each other… anything that could tell him why he had to live this life.

The thoughts of possibility… it was all too much for Sonic to handle. He ran his hands over his eyes and grasped heavily onto his ears, walking quickly to the bed trying to hold back the severe amount of anger, adrenaline, and energy building up in him.

"Why did you leave me?" The teen hedgehog grumbled through his gritted teeth. "Why did you have to see him? What was so important that you couldn't say goodbye to me?!"

He swerved around, staring heavily at the piles of papers and the old, dusty desk as a whole. He took in a stuttering breath, clenching his fist.

"Why did you have to leave?!" And the energy released itself through an 110 mile per hour kick that shattered open the bottom desk drawer, demolishing the wood and knocking the folders up and off of the desk. Sonic got too caught up in the heat that his foot nearly got stuck, but he angrily tugged his foot out, breaking down the wooden barrier and releasing a lone folder.

As Sonic dusted off his shoe and tried to control his breathing, the folder seemed to slide over the others, nudging his left foot. Planting his other one down after insuring there was no fracture, he took one look at the folder and almost skipped over it. But then he looked at it again and noticed a small title planted on the folder's tab: "Jules's Son".

_Jules…_ Sonic thought to himself, almost whispering it in his mind. He had not thought about his dad in a while. Sure, he mentioned him and Uncle Chuck had once or twice, but there were no real facts about him other than the reactions he gave to Uncle Chuck's pranks, as Uncle Chuck had described. But though his knowledge was limited, he remembered that about Jules… that he was his father for a short time… a time he could not remember.

And so the hedgehog knelt down and slipped the folder inbetween his fingers. It had a worn out spine, as though it had been opened multiple times. There were no signs of dust on this folder; it seemed that Uncle Chuck liked to go through this folder a lot, even just the other day.

The hedgehog got onto his feet and sat himself on top of his uncle's bed. Shimmying back a couple more inches, he took a breath, preparing himself for an anticlimactic discovery, and pushed the folder's lid open. And so he began to read the first page of a long research paper:

* * *

_Many scientists would say that using the first person in a research leads one to believe in a writer's bias and unprofessionalism; however, given where I plan to take this paper's topic, I will have to disregard such an idea._

_Humanity has only been with us for a century, and we are already losing interest from them. Kintobor continues to tell them how much promise we have, and I applaud him for his efforts; he's the only human who has not said a racist remark to me ever since I first ran into one back on Westside Island. But I truly do have faith in Kintobor… even if his ideas need tweaking._

_He keeps going on and on about this "roboticization process", his idea of perfection that involves fusing organic life with robotic limbs and systems. In effect, he hopes to create synthetic lifeforms out of organics… and I assume he means that for all of us Mobians. I don't mean to bash his ideas in this paper; rather, I am here to propose a solution to the more significant problem we have: the "powerlack" disease._

_For those of you new to my research, "powerlack" is a disease that is purely genetically inherited; it attacks at the special cells, the ones that grant us our specific abilities, and makes them degenerate. I've encountered victims of such cases of the disease: they are more confused and misplaced than unhappy. The majority of people tend to discriminate against them, calling them "blanks"._

_Like I said before, this problem needs to be addressed by the scientists of our planet; if we do not combat this, our future may very well fall into the hands of the humans… or maybe even my partner Kintobor. Either way, it will mark a grave fate for our people, and I do not want to witness such an event. Now, of course, we do not have the technologies or energies to truly hold us from that ending; there is no known cure for "powerlack", leaving only small medical agents that hold onto the powers for a longer amount of time, usually into the teenage years. I know from my recent family history that my brother is not able to afford the time and money it would take to get a vaccine for his son. Those vaccines are expensive, and that's why I suggest this alternative. It is not as easy to find, due to its mythological origins, but it is a step in the right direction: alternative energies._

_During my time at university, I developed an interest in archaeology alongside science and engineering. And in my forays into archaeological digs year later, I uncovered a prominent idea—a prophecy—that reoccurred among the pillars and walls of many old and rundown sites._

_These sites once belonged to a thriving species of Mobian known as the echidnas. They were once thought to be myths, but some sightings in and outside of society have been confirmed. It seems that the ancient practices and lifestyles once held up by them have decreased in the face of modern technology and possible weaknesses, thus why they are so little now and why they are trying to stay in hiding._

_The echidnas were fascinated with the power of eight gems, one of them being the most powerful and most important to the prosperity of their tribes. It has been known in many of their sprawled writings as the "magis" emerald, with "magis" being translated as "more important". Thus, modern historians refer to it as the Master Emerald. And now I get to my point._

_I believe it is possible to harness the energy within such a gem. Now, I know it seems crazy, considering how supernatural and mythological this all sounds, but I do have the evidence of massive shrines and constant repeated drawings of the same shrines I came across to support my claim: this emerald was clearly important to them, so it must be important to us as well. That's why I want to harness its energy._

_Now, if it is a real thing, condensing its "chaotic energy", as I have termed it, into a more focused and sustainable form would be quite the feat; we do not yet have any technology to sustain something so unstable. I don't know for sure how powerful the Emerald could be, but it must be something far beyond the modern streams of electricity and solar energy. Thus, to contain such massive amounts of power into a concentrated would be challenging, at least with today's technology._

_But imagine what harnessing this chaotic energy could do for the victims of "powerlack". If we could focus its form and distribute to those victims, we could help support many Mobian lives. I want it to be seen not as a drug but as a feat of modern medicine, able to restore power to those losing it._

_And that leaves me to a unique case with my brother and his son. My brother has a very strategic and logical mind, one that can foresee effective battle situations (handy in his time in wars with Mobian rebels down on Westside Island). He was blue just like me, and he was still very effective with his power into his 30s, which was the last years I ever saw him. His son, however, is a special case. He has a very specific kind of "powerlack", one that has been with him since birth; to some extent, it seems he was born without a power. This concerned my brother, his wife, and me to some degree; I wasn't as invested back then because I did not think I'd be trusted to care for him. And then I got the call from Jules to pick him up, and that was the last time I heard his voice._

_But I took the boy in… and I have made a remarkable discovery about him. I can't really say it to him since he probably won't understand it until he's much older, but he is a very special Mobian. His body, at first glance, would seem to be facing a case of "powerlack", due to his discolored spikes and general skill set. But this is not the remnant of a power… it is the base for one._

_The special thing about Sonic (which my brother did not think of as an ironic name) is that it is possible for him to attain any power he wishes; it's not as easy as picking one out, as he still hasn't developed anything, but there is evidence in his genetic make-up that he was born with the base for any sort of power. If I were to give him a focused energy, something like the Master Emerald's power, he could channel it to become ability. And that's why, for the past year I've had him with me, I have tried to make accessories—things of interest that will help him develop whatever power he ends up channeling._

_I made power gloves for a possible talent of strength, air-resistant suit for a flight-based talent, wind-resistant sneakers, and hover boots. I was losing my touch with that last one; just started repeating the shoes thing from there on out. I have no clue where he'll end up, but I feel like preparing for his discovery is the best call, because I am the one who needs to help him through his unspeakably strange and misleading life. But I digress from my work: the important thing to realize is what this means for victims of "powerlack"._

_Perhaps there is a way to reverse the process. And that's why I suggested finding forms of energy. Whether it is the Master Emerald that I am focused on or another energy-based system within our reach, we can reverse the effects of "powerlack" and help drive our race toward a stronger and more dependable future. We do not need more human ideas... especially not that "roboticization" that Kintobor continues to monologue to me about; what we need right now is an independent standing to hold ourselves up so humans do not seize control over us. _

_I give you this food for thought. Perhaps we can attain a future brighter than our present._

_Mr. Charles Hedgehog_

_July 16__th__, 1999_

* * *

The paper fell to the floor, and the little hedgehog could only sit and wonder at all the information that was just pounded into his head.

_1999?_ He thought to himself while he took deep breaths to relax himself through the stress. _That was 16 years ago… he wrote that when I was just one._

There was a lot to process, and Sonic wasn't able to keep his mind fixated on much; the term "powerlack" kept flooding his mind. Could his uncle have been right? Did he have that special case of "powerlack" he said he had?

_How should I know,_ Sonic thought to himself negatively. _I'm not nearly as smart as he was. The guy developed multiple accessories for me… in case I developed any type of power… like, who the heck just decides to do that?_

Sonic was rummaging through his mind recklessly for answers, yet he sat on the bed, his feet dangling and his hands gripping his forehead in exhaustion. But then his head perked up slightly, and his eyes seemed to lose their stressed structure. An idea—a phrase from the paper—kept repeating in his head…

Sonic loosened his hands from his head, hopping from the bed's edge and latching onto the dropped research paper. Sonic skimmed through it quickly, trying to remember the paragraph he had read only minutes ago. There was something strange in it… something coincidental. He wasn't sure how it reoccurred to him, but he had a feeling that it was important…

Sonic kept muttering the lines to himself as he skimmed.

"_But I took the boy in…_ No, that's not it. _The special thing about…_ dang it, that's not it either. _I made power gloves…_ Ah, here we go…"

Sonic's finger surfed along the list of inventions, hoping to find what he seeked… and then the words popped out at him; he wasn't sure if they were what he thought they were, but the wording of it seemed to hide the true purpose of the invention.

"… _wind-resistant sneakers…_"Sonic whispered to himself as he knelt on the ground, trying to comprehend the strangest thing his uncle had written on that whole page… aside from the whole "Master Emerald" fiasco at the beginning.

"What the heck are those supposed to be?" He whispered to himself as he put the paper gently back on the floor. And his eyes caught something he hadn't noticed before… a small gap between the draping bed sheets and the spruce wood floor, showing the bottom edge of a box. And as he turned his head to fully acknowledge the discovery, the hedgehog wanted more answers…

"Just In Case" was written in Sharpie across the top of the duct-taped box. Sonic read those words with a small pain rummaging through his heart; whatever was inside had to do with Sonic possibly getting powers. Uncle Chuck had prepared himself for the moment in which his powers had awoken. And Sonic, though emotional and confused in this moment of crisis, wanted to see what Uncle Chuck believed he could do.

Ripping apart one lid of the box and sliding the other open as well, Sonic could see the many contents, buried on top of one another. And he could see many of the things that Uncle Chuck mentioned, along with a few other small contraptions that he assumed needed a box for storage. He saw the intact hover boots, the rusting power gloves, and the helmet of that air-resistant suit… though he didn't see that rest of it. But there was clearly more stuff beneath those three things…

He slipped his hand in, feeling around underneath those surface items, feeling a small circular object. Sonic assumed it to be a pocket watch of some sort, but, upon pulling it out, he found it was just a small circular screen put in a pocket watch-like case. And there seemed to be no power button or light-up function anywhere on it.

_Must have been drained… or it was a failure,_ Sonic reasoned to himself as he placed it beside the box, turning his attention back inside. Reaching in once more, he began to roll his arm around, pushing and shoving the surface items to make way for the new stuff.

And soon his hand felt a smooth surface… almost metallic… or at least something shiny. Moving his fingers around a bit more, he felt a small strap connected by what felt like a buckle. And upon putting his other hand in on the other side, he felt an entirely separate one next to the original.

_Is this what I think it is?_ Sonic thought to himself in a slight panic, but he maintained his composure. And so he slowly lifted his hands up, grasping hard onto the objects underneath the heap of accessories. The hover boots and helmet moved to the side as his arms came back up, and soon the resistance of everything else reverted back into the box, letting him freely lift them away.

"Uncle Chuck…" Sonic whispered to himself, "… I think I found 'em."

In his hands were two shiny red shoes, each with a wide white strap slipped over the middle and attached to the outside of the shoe via gold buckles.

Sonic lifted pressure of his feet, sitting down on the floor with his legs extended outwards. He could see past the new shoes, eyeing his fractured and decomposing pair of blue sneakers. Focusing back on the new shoes, he realized something… that it was possible the energy from the blast could not sustain itself within Sonic's shoes. That's why they were so charred up; the intensity of Sonic's new chemistry made his shoes almost fry themselves off his feet. So he wondered… could his uncle have lied in saying the new shoes were wind-resistant when they were possibly… energy-resistant? Could these new shoes withstand Sonic's new power?

But even without knowing for sure, Sonic would take a new pair of shoes any day, especially after all that had happened to his other pair.

He unbuckled one of the shoes, kicking off one of his burnt ones. And as he slipped it on, Sonic could feel how his uncle had fitted these shoes almost… perfectly. It was a little fishy to Sonic, but he let that inconsistency slide. The fact that his uncle had crafted a pair of shoes to withstand the power of a speedster was enough to keep him quiet as he fit one on and slipped on the other. He then snapped on each buckle.

The hedgehog began to get onto his legs… and he could feel this new comfort on his feet. It was so much different than any other shoe he had seen or worn; the form within the shoe that complimented his foot size, the flexibility of the material on the outside, and the way his socks popped out from the top… it was this new look… a cool look. Sonic never thought he'd have a cool look. Looking at himself, checking out his new shoes and blue fur, he began to see this new "Sonic" in himself. And then the hedgehog smirked to himself.

"Way past cool, Uncle Chuck." He chuckled to himself. "Way. Past. Cool."

* * *

**Thank you for the support, and I hope this fanfic is coming along nicely for all of you. This is one of the longest chapters I've written so far, so that's a big achievement right there. See you in the next chapter!**

**(P.S. Sorry for the long wait).**


	6. 5 - Time Trial

**Chapter 5: Time Trial**

"You would never consider that a little nothing of a nephew like his would stir up that much trouble for a genius like me." The doctor thought to himself, cooped up in his laboratory.

He had made sure that no one could easily find him unless they knew his new name… and if he had let Charles live through that meeting, he would never have given his name away. But Charles was gone… so he decided to let him know that he still wouldn't find him.

The room was dark and dank, tubes running along the floors and walls, almost as if the building were becoming a robotic specimen. It was the doctor preferred to live; if he was to truly pursue this fate of Mobius, he had to embrace the idea himself to let others know that even one man could live in such circumstances.

The lights from his monitor were the only things that could let anyone else see in this room. But the doctor? He tended to become accustomed to the dark in minutes… even seconds. He had been in this sanctuary for years now; there was no way he couldn't adapt. He also, due to his loner status (aside from a small robotic parrot perched atop his throne), tended to talk to himself about his plans… whether they were good or not."

"I suppose that plan is a bit of a fluke now…" he began to mutter to himself. "Unless I can still manage to acquire energy from the shrine… perhaps all is not lost. But that hedgehog… whatever he did, it caused my 'nuke' to send a small shockwave. It didn't even knock anything down!"

His parrot squawked in anger with a distorted call from his perch, but the doctor simply reached above him and patted its beak gently, calming its circuits.

"It is all right, Scratch." He assured the small bird as he ended his petting. "Our mission will run its course."

The doctor arose from his throne, taking steps towards his computer console, eyes narrowing with his sinister mind at work.

"Though I may not know where Chuck's nephew is, I'm sure he will show himself." He reasoned to himself. "And when he does, I must avoid him. But if he presents himself as a problem to my work, then I will ensure that he will not survive our next meeting."

The doctor planted his hands firmly against the edge of his console, lifting his head look over his map of South Island.

"I do not care what he can do now." Robotnik sternly put. "What matters to me is my victory and, if it is called for, his demise."

* * *

What sounded like one knock on the door was actually several in rapid succession, but Tails never would have figured that out until he heard the door open, turning his head from the living room couch to see Sonic in the doorway.

"You sound sporadic today." Tails commented as the blue hedgehog shut the door behind himself and walked behind the couch.

"I'm just feeling a little better today is all." Sonic explained. "I assume your mom is here?"

"Nah, she left to put some extra hours in at her work. Told me to hold the fort down." The kitsune answered.

"As always." Sonic replied. He looked up from his friend to see a television propped up by a long desk in front of a low coffee table. It was showing of some cartoon with exciting visuals and strange music.

"What are you watching?" He asked with curiosity; it was not the reason he had come over, but he wanted to know what Tails liked to do. He assumed it'd help him in the long run.

"Just some SatAM cartoons." Tails put simply. Sonic was baffled by his answer, leaning his head towards the kitsune in confusion.

"SatAM?" He repeated.

The fox realized his error of judgement and explained, "Saturday morning. Since that's when most cartoons have their new episodes air. But today is all re-runs or shows I don't particularly like."

"Coolio." Sonic nodded in response. He quickly hopped over the couch and landed right beside a jumpy Tails.

"Jeez!" The kid yelped as he landed back on the couch. "You scare with how fast you really are."

"Huh, I must be pretty fast then." Sonic joked. "Speaking of which, I have a proposition for you… a task, really."

But before the hedgehog continued, he eyed the TV just across from the couch. Tails got the message, leaning over to the coffee table and pushing in the mute button. The cartoon fell silent.

"All right. What's up?" Tails asked in a positive and honest manner; he had crisscrossed his legs onto his couch cushion with his face beaming bright, and Sonic could truly see the innocence in this technological prodigy.

"I want to test out these new shoes I got, and I want you to help me." He started off.

The young fox turned his attention towards Sonic's feet. He saw a pair of red shoes with white straps and gold buckles. Tails admired the careful craftsmanship.

"A present from your uncle or something?" He inquired, still looking at the shoes.

"You could say that. He had made a bunch of inventions in case I had found my powers at some point. I think he made these shoes for a speedster like me."

"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you!" Tails suddenly spat out in response, seeming to hop towards Sonic with excitement. "You were on TV this morning!"

Sonic nearly jumped in his seat.

_What did he just say?_ He thought to himself.

"What did you just say?" He repeated his thought out loud.

Tails wanted to explain, but he quickly looked at his watch.

"Cool it's almost 8 o' clock!" He stated as he reached for the remote, changing the channels as fast he could. "Maybe that news channel for 8 am viewers will talk about you."

"Why me?" Sonic asked with confusion. The fox had found the channel, pressing the mute button, the remote being tossed to the side of the couch as the sound came back on.

"I saw it at 7 this morning." Tails answered. "The news people were talking about how a 'speedster' was running through Central City yesterday."

"How is that news?" The hedgehog asked, soon being shushed by the news channel's intro, now showing a young female wolf taking the camera's focus.

"Good morning, people of Acorn County. Welcome to the '8 O' Clock news'. I am your host as always, Nicole Jennings."

Sonic's eyes darted over to Tails, but the fox kept his eyes on the screen. He knew he had been running around the city, but why was the news all about it?

"Our top story this morning is actually from yesterday morning. In a strange set of circumstances near an abandoned warehouse on Green Grove Street, police encountered a lone blue hedgehog within its walls. Officers say that there were only minor injuries on the person; there is no telling if he truly was a victim of something, since police found nothing at the scene to prove what had happened. But what is more interesting is that this hedgehog had 'sped its way out of the warehouse and across the city in only a minute or so before disappearing', as one Officer Jasper put it into words. What is very striking about this speedster, though they are fairly common even on South Island, is that he broke speeds that no one could ever hope to pass. Most speedsters, as researchers have approximated, travel at speeds akin to 80 or 90 miles per hour. This little hedgehog apparently above 110 miles per hour; that is a new record set by a lone speedster spotted within Central City."

Sonic leaned forward, intrigued by this discovery that even he had not considered. Tails sat back and grinned as his friend came across his new fame. Clips of multiple views of Sonic's rooftop run began to stream back to back, from street views to tall building windows.

"Ever since yesterday morning, videos of the hedgehog have surfaced across social media. The adults have no clue what to make of this speedster's appearance, and they have no clue if he will show again. The young masses of the Internet have termed this speedster as neither a hero nor a threat… simply 'the blue blur'."

Tails was just fine with that much information; he reached his hand over and pushed the mute button once again.

"People have taken notice of you." The fox stated firmly.

Sonic seemed to take a deep breath as he processed the news.

"Yeah. I can see that." He admitted quite literally. "I just never figured I'd become popular enough that the news or even the Internet would call notice to me. I mean… 'the blue blur'… I have a freaking superhero name now. This is crazy!"

"You're not going to let it get to your head, are you?" Tails asked with clear caution resounding in his words.

Sonic tilted his head back to his friend, as if to ask if the young fox actually thought he was that arrogant.

"Tails, it's not like I'm gonna head out there and fight bad guys or something. Heck, I haven't heard word of any criminals in Central City in a long time, so I couldn't do much. Besides, what's the problem with a little thrill-seeking every now and then? If you were a speedster like I am right now, you'd understand that stimulation is key. Like, I couldn't even really go to bed last night until like one in the morning."

"Why?" Tails seemed shocked at the odd behavior.

"I had to run laps around the house seventy times just to even make myself want to sit." The hedgehog admitted. "But I'm not here to talk about my new habits. I came here for you to time me."

"Time you? Do you mean, like, run a time trial?" The fox suggested.

"You know what I mean." Sonic smirked as if he had said it right the first time.

"Where exactly would we do this 'time trial'?" Tails asked, quickly defending himself off the bat. "Not in my house, if that's what you're thinking."

"Nah. I have a better idea." The speedster grinned as he hopped off the couch, with Tails heading downstairs to grab a stopwatch.

* * *

"Okay, Tails," Sonic began as he stretched his legs at the beginning of the path from Knothole to Central City, "here's the idea: This is our starting point. When I count down and say the number 'three', I want you to start the stopwatch, and I'm going to head down the path towards Central City. Once I reach a certain point, I'll head on back here. This is gonna be my practice run for a while until I get the hand of my speed."

Tails pulled out his stopwatch, looking down the winding path that led off into the city.

"Where are you planning to stop and turn back?" Tails remarked on the plan.

Sonic stood up from his finished stretches, pondering the one detail he hadn't considered. "Maybe some building or something…"

"A building?" Tails repeated. "What are you going to do… stop at the sidewalk next to it?"

Sonic just shoke his head, walking over to the center of the pathway.

"That's too little use of my abilities." He pointed out. "You saw the clips; I can run fast enough to keep myself running along a wall. I want to reach the top of a skyscraper or something. Unfortunately, I don't know which one… well, more like I don't know the names."

"You could try, um… Rose Tower." The fox suggested, but Sonic was still dumbfounded. "Actually, yeah, do Rose Tower."

"Which one is Rose Tower?" The hedgehog inquired, messing with the straps on his shoes.

"It's the tall white building near the center of the city. It has some hot rod red highlights along its sides… although it looks almost pink in this sunny lighting."

Sonic had barely taken notice of the time of day. It was only 8:10, and the sun was shining just beyond the Acorn Tree behind him. Just a run on this elongated left turn of a path and he'd end up in the city. He figured that the building would stand out when he saw it… what with the hot pink and what not. The sun was a little higher up than it was the other day, when people had seen him at seven in the morning. He figured that more people would be out and about by this point, so he had a bigger audience to impress… no time for mistakes.

_Wait, what are you telling yourself, Sonic?_ The hedgehog then caught himself in his train of thought. _This is not a showcase or a race… this is a time trial. Enjoy it when it happens, but don't treat yourself like some celebrity. You're just a normal Mobian like everyone else._

That's when Sonic noticed that he had accepted Sonic as his name for the first time in a long time.

"You ready now, Sonic?" Tails asked him, stopwatch prepped and steady in his hand.

Sonic peered over and gave a confirmatory smile. "Let's do it, bud."

The hedgehog took on a running stance, planting his fingers firmly against the ground and creating perch points of balance. He bent one knee closer to him, extended the other further back, and lowered his head.

"Remember, Tails, as soon as I say 'three', okay?" Sonic repeated the info. "The number 'three'."

Tails simply nodded in response, ready for his prompt to push the button in and watch Sonic's power right in front of his eyes. He peered slightly over at his friend; he seemed nervous and fidgety, yet these seemed to be constant side effects of whatever his power was doing to him. They were not bad effects in Tails's eyes… merely little details of autonomic behaviors that he happened to notice constantly during only those two days.

Sonic's head perked up, seeing down the long road he had to travel to the city. He was ready.

"3!" He shouted in an instant.

"What?!" Tails seemed to gasp, following up in a millisecond with the push of the timer button.

And before Tails could look back up to see Sonic's departure clearly, the rustling leaves that seemed to flow off the tree branches and the rushing winds that passed him by were all that remained of his blue friend. The force was so strong that the little fox had almost been knocked back on the ground and into one of the forest trees. Looking down the path, he could a small speck of blue off in the distance, beginning to make the turn and disappearing amongst the trees.

"I give him a minute tops."

* * *

In only five seconds, Sonic had reached the threshold of the forest into the unveiling of Central City. His speed carried him a little ways into the air as he took one hop that sent him sailing down into the three-way intersection below. Cars stopped almost instantly as a blue blur rushed by their bumpers. The drivers were baffled by what they had just seen. The news… it was a true story… not a hoax.

The hedgehog continued down the road, dashing in and out of lanes and hopping over cars only to slide under the next one within an instant. Everyone was amazed as this pure blue light seemed to surge between cars and sidewalks, leaving no regard for the stoplights or pedestrians… though its finesse seemed to help him cause no injury to anyone in its path.

"It's the blue blur!" A young squirrel shouted off in the distance. And Sonic couldn't help but smirk at his new name; it may not have been Sonic… but it was close enough.

The road led to a plaza area, filled with families, hot dog stands, and a graceful water fountain, all with a circular road encompassing it. Sonic hopped over passing cars and dashed into the plaza grounds, eying the water fountain as an opportunity for another "speed hop". As he rushed through the people and began his hop over the water, he took this small instant to note the people. They were all families, lining up for hot dogs or sitting by wooden picnic tables for a laugh. But as he began his leap, all attention seemed to gravitate towards him. He could even see an adult wolf reaching for his phone.

_The news is gonna have a field day with this one_, Sonic thought to himself.

And as he started to reach the ground (it is important to realize this happening in the midst of a second for the blue hedgehog), he noticed someone different… someone who did not seem to be part of a family. She seemed to be on her own. She was wear a red coat over what seemed to be a red dress, with high red and white boots reaching up to her knees. And she had a headband stretching across the top of her head, holding up her quills in a shorthaired fashion. However, her back was turned, thus he could not make out her face.

_Perhaps she hasn't processed my entry yet,_ Sonic reasoned as his foot pressed against the ground. _Perhaps she'll be watching me on the way back._

And off he zoomed down the rest of the plaza. Looking back, he could see the pink hedgehog turn, but he was too far to see a face. He'd see her on the return journey.

Looking back down the path, he was a few feet away from another entry from the circle to the road. He slid under the oncoming trucks and car, dashing soon after as he began to notice a hot red and white building only a couple blocks ahead.

_Let's give this a shot, Rose Tower_, Sonic thought as he passed another block.

In his next five steps, Sonic adjusted his trajectory, aiming himself to run along the wall. And his nerves seemed to do the alignment for him, as his legs managed their signals to run up the wall before he could even process he was going to do it. And in the next second he was already up four stories of the tower.

"Ah!" Sonic yelped in excitement as the wind rushed him, his legs pushing up window by window. "Let's go!"

After the next fifteen steps, his feet felt no more wall, and he could see the building just below him. Flipping himself around to aim his feet at the buildings roof, he closed his lifted his arms above his head and landed on the ground in only five seconds.

The hedgehog took one quick look at his watch. _25 seconds…_ that was a new record.

_Now to head back down…_ Sonic then thought to himself. But he then felt something in his gut, telling him to experiment with a small idea. And though he thought that he would regret it, the speedster went through with it anyway.

_I hate gut feelings,_ he thought to himself as he leaned off the building and began his accelerating descent.

In the distance, he could hear people shout in excitement or scream in fear. To be honest, Sonic felt both of those emotions at that very moment. But he kept with his gut feeling, as he closed his eyes and seemed to twist something inside himself, starting a chain reaction within his nerves and muscles.

The power he felt within him now seemed to surge quickly again, but in a new way; it was as if the electricity within him was rotating forward, rolling inside him and pulling his head down and around. Within moments, the energy took hold of him, and he braced himself for a possible impact by tucking his head and legs into his arms. This only seemed to aid in the process, soon enveloping his body in a rushing blue light, carrying its own forward momentum created from a body-created energy source.

_This better not hurt_, was all Sonic could think before concentrating on his control.

* * *

Everyone was looking in astonishment with cars stopped in the streets one moment, and everyone on the block seemed to heave and holler as a ball of blue energy slammed in between two cars, bouncing between the car doors and launching itself against a window of Rose Tower. It then corrected itself and used its bounce off the opposite building to hurtle back onto the street, heading down towards the plaza.

_All right, then…_ Sonic thought to himself harshly in his "spinball". _Gonna feel that one in the morning…_

And in the next moment, the hedgehog had ramped of the back of a low-riding car, launching him again into the air. Within a millisecond, it seemed as though he had forced his energy to continue surging without a rotational force, meaning that his spinball dissipated in front of everyone's eyes, revealing the blue hedgehog within. But the transformation was only noticeable in one frame of real-time as the blue blur carried its momentum down the street and into the plaza.

Sonic took a second hop over the fountain, this time turning his head back to try and find the pink hedg-… oh, there she was, watching him rush right past her.

She had these cute little pink tassles of hair draping over her forehead, and she had emerald green eyes…

_Just like mine… _Sonic noted. _If she could see my eyes, she'd think it means we're soul mates or something… but I have a time trial to finish first._

His feet planted against the ground, and the hedgehog was able to launch himself all the way back down the road in only 8 seconds, reaching the hill leading to the forest path at the end.

Everyone within and around the plaza was in hysterics; adults were cheering loudly, children seemed so clueless as to what had just passed by, and cars seemed to honk and stop in the middle of the road just to glorify this random moment of excitement… the true first debut of the blue blur. But there was one person who was not in complete hysterics… one person who had taken the time to try and watch the blue blur makes its exit… where did it go?

She watched at the surge of blue energy ran up the hill in a second and rushed into the shade of the forest. The hedgehog squinted, closing her crimson coat tighter around her red dress and seeming to lay out a new plan as she gazed off at the entrance to the woods at the outskirts of the city.

_I had a feeling I was right, _the girl thought to herself with astonishment. _H__e can lead us to him._

* * *

**Thank you all for the support! This is becoming a lot of fun to write, and I enjoy every bit of information I can explain. Once again, thank you for enjoying this, and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	7. 6 - Proof of Corruption

**Chapter 6: Proof of Corruption**

"55 seconds." Tails stated, clasping the stopwatch in his relaxed hand. "Is that a new record?" He asked, turning to his hedgehog friend as they walked away from the trail.

"That's 26… 27 seconds or so on just a journey out to the tower." Sonic guessed, continuing his walk while pondering his performance. "I remember it took me 30 seconds the last time I was in the city.

"Well, last time, you didn't come from Rose Tower, so there may be a difference in distance." The young fox noted.

The hedgehog lifted his hand to rub his neck. _Guess it's not really a new record then…_ he thought to himself, shutting his eyes in disgust with his test… or lack thereof.

"And since I couldn't tell if you got to the tower or not, I have no real proof that this is your actual time or not." Tails stated as well.

_Sounds like he's trying to flunk me in this "speed class", _Sonic thought to himself jokingly.

"Well, I suppose I should tell you I lollygagged over at the entrance to Central City for a good 40 or so seconds before coming back…" he commented, and the kitsune nearly flipped at the response.

"Wait, really?" He nearly shouted, stopping the walk and hopping around in anger. "Then why the heck did you make me-?!"

Sonic's hands seized Tails's shoulders, holding the little guy in place and in calm peace; he attempted to hold back his cackling.

"Tails… I was kidding." Sonic stated sincerely with a slight joking smirk spreading across his face. The young fox seemed agitated, but took a deep breath to calm himself down.

"It was worth it." Sonic reaffirmed his friend, beginning to walk again. "To be honest, this isn't much of a good comparison to my first run, now that I think about it. But this will count as the first of many tests. I'll try and do these whenever-."

"We'll try and do these…" Tails interrupted, correcting the mission statement. Sonic was surprised at the sudden outburst, but he fixed his words.

"… whenever we have the time." The speedster finished. "But, for now… let's call that a trial for now."

After a few minutes of covering what homework assignments he and Sonic had due Monday and what teachers they found most annoying, Tails turned his head to his right to see his mailbox.

"All right." Tails said, stopping the road and turning back to his friend. "At least we know what we should do now. I'm gonna go work on the plane engine. See ya, Sonic!" The young fox began to scurry a little off to Sonic's right, over to his house only a few yards away.

"See ya, Tails." Sonic waved as he continued his walk.

_It feels weird calling him that_… He thought to himself as his hand dropped back beside him and kid ran over to the house. _But it also feels good… right, somehow. I think he's getting used to it._

"You want to meet up at Rotor's for lunch?" The fox yelped from his front door. Sonic returned from his train of thought, realizing he had been staring into space for a moment.

"Uh… uh, sure." The blue blur shouted back, nodding in return. "Yeah, sure. Cool!"

And as Tails's door shut, Sonic burst off down the rest of the path, back to his house. He didn't really know how his life was going to end up, but it surprised him how he had recovered from its small and big tragedies. And not many other people knew about those tragedies except the two most important people in his life in that moment: Uncle Chuck and Tails.

And though his issues were personal, he did start to wish that everyone else could see why he became this new Sonic… why he had changed. Who else could he talk to… who else could he trust?

* * *

"Dad, I'm home." Amy called out as she closed the front door to the exquisite apartment. The walls were pearly white, and the carpet was a smooth tan; she always admired the clean and unscratched look that her father constantly kept for the home. Eyeing the clock hovering just over the exit of the foyer, she could see it was four in the afternoon.

The scooting of a chair sounded from the kitchen beyond the foyer. Footsteps arrived in the air as her father came into view.

"Welcome home, sweetheart." Her father said in his usual deep and determined voice.

Amy took a few more steps to finally be in the kitchen, watching her father pick up dirty dishes and place them in the sink. He seemed calm today, which was a good sign to Amy; if he were frustrated, talking to him would be a lot more difficult of a task. As Amy plopped her bag down on the counter, her father turned his head towards her with a small smile present.

"How was the plaza today? Busy as usual?" He asked quite quickly.

Amy's father was always talking to everyone about his independent daughter. She didn't want to brag to anyone, but her father would always take hold of the situation and go on for hours about how in control her daughter was of her life… and that always made Amy uncomfortable.

"Well, the plaza was fine… but something happened while I was there." She managed to speak out calmly. She was not sure how her dad would react after their talk the other day.

Placing the dishes in the sink, her father grabbed a nearby dishrag and began to wipe his hands clean, turning fully to his daughter.

"Oh, really?" He asked with simple curiosity.

Amy took a deep mental breath before continuing with her schpeel.

"It was the blue blur…" She stated.

Her father's face seemed to lose its proud smirk, nearly falling towards a disappointed frown.

"What about him?" He reluctantly asked, wishing this was not the topic of conversation. "What did he do?"

"He was running around the city… and up the tower, past our level." Amy explained quickly, trying to get through her story before the inevitable interruption. "Hear me out, Dad: I know you don't want to assume anything, but this blur didn't start showing until the morning after I saw that aircraft go by. He could be connected to-."

Her father interrupted her as calmly as he could, "Amy, I told you to not talk about this with me again."

"But this is important, Dad!" Amy protested, now standing by the sink in front of her dad. "It's important for you. If you want to find any dirt on Kintobor, the blue blur looks like a great place to start."

"All right, let me dissolve this right now." Amy's dad became stern, making Amy fairly uneasy as she felt herself lose a couple inches of height out of fear. "You have no evidence supporting if that was a Kintobor device that flew off over the city. No one else woke up to the sound of rockets."

"That's 'cause it wasn't making sound." Amy interrupted. "It might have had stealth-?!"

"Let me finish, young lady!" Her father coerced her speech to a minimum. "Why would this… 'blue blur' stop to answer a question… if he can even answer one? From what we've seen, no one has had an interview with him or anything. No one knows who he is!"

Amy attempted to stand tall again, thinking there might be a loophole… a way to convince her father that this could work. "But what about his appearance inside an old Kintobor warehouse? Doesn't that strike as odd?"

"You think that coincidence is going to get me into all this?" Her father seemed almost shocked at Amy's remark. "We have no idea where Kintobor is, what he has been doing besides his usual manufacturing business, and you believe that a Mobian's sudden appearance inside a warehouse should strike me as a connection to him?"

Amy stood her ground, though she could feel her side crumbling before her dad's overwhelming authority on this matter. "It wasn't just a warehouse… it was HIS warehouse. And you know that he has been up to something, ever since that Charles Hedgehog guy left the industry."

"Well, we have no idea where he is; he's been keeping himself hidden ever since then. For all we know, our one good source of information is gone… maybe even dead." The words darted out of his mouth, shooting daggers at his daughter's claims. Her face seemed to tremble slightly, as though she had fought this argument for nothing… but there was this air of respectability about Amy's efforts that made her father want to make her feel better; he placed his hands on her shoulders, surprising her in her defeat.

"Listen, sweetheart…" he managed to calm himself down, holding back his frustration, "… I know you want to help me with this. I've been trying at this for years and nothing's come up, so you want to help me. I understand that. I love that. But we can't just assume these things… not without solid and documented evidence. No one else saw a ship fly across the city. No one has talked to the 'blue blur'. We can't make a claim until we know for sure. Until then, we just have to wait."

And as Amy considered his words, he drew her in for a hug. She never got many hugs with her father… it was only on vacations and free weekends when she got them. It was even more rare to get one during the week. But as her father tugged at her, Amy couldn't help but hug back.

"Just promise me you won't get into any shenanigans about this, okay?" Her father muttered over her shoulder.

Amy's eyes opened, pondering her next decision. And as she reminded herself of her deceitful charm, she closed her eyes again and muttered back, "Okay."

Her father believed that there were no more ways to solve this mystery… but she certainly felt that there was.

* * *

Amy brought her grandfather's staff every time she went out at night. It had been a gift from him; he had instructed her to use it "in self-defense". Her father had protested against the idea, believing that carrying a staff around at night would send the wrong message to other people. She got the staff anyway. Perhaps her grandpa believed in her potential just as much as she did. Plus, she was always good at finding shortcuts through the city as to not draw attention to herself. For Amy, agility and perseverance were some of her greatest qualities.

Due to her independence, as proclaimed constantly by her father, she was given the option to leave the house as she pleased, as long as she didn't make a ruckus when she left or returned. Amy was always one to oblige to the rule because… well, any teenager would take up that opportunity in a heartbeat.

As she walked up the hillside towards the forest, her red coat over her red dress and her staff slid into a sheathe on her backpack, she wondered what she would find on the other side of the forest. She had heard about a village not too far off from the city. Perhaps the blue blur lived there? Unlike her father, Amy tended to make assumptions… but her father tended to forget that she had made many assumptions about people… and had been right about them most of the time; she had a good track record for these kinds of issues.

The walk along the dark path through the forest was extremely quiet. The moon failed to truly shine through all of the leaves, leaving it up to instinct for her direction. She had never heard so much nothing, having lived out in the city for so long; it was nerve-racking to some extent, hearing the sounds of car engines and music fade away while leaving in its place a discomforting silence. But she simply gripped her staff tighter, reaffirming her strength against all odds. If she faced any opposition, she would be without power.

Only 25 minutes later did she see what looked like lamplight near the end of the path. She was impressed with herself for coming this far. Another few minutes passed as she jogged over to the end and stood by the small lantern post just outside of the entrance… and she realized just how big this "village" was.

The first thing she saw was a humongous tree smack-dab in her line of sight upon entering. It was an oak tree, though its trunk was wide, its branches were massive, and its leaves left massive amounts of shade upon its bark. The moonlight made the tree seem almost blue in color.

Looking around the tree, she abruptly saw a small modernized public school, like multiple rectangles piled up on top of each other in disorganization. _I'd probably be confused walking around in there_, Amy thought to herself, turning her attention to the right to see a long arching pathway around the tree, with houses and establishments lining either side of it.

_This is going to take a while._

* * *

It had seemed as though she had searched along the path for hours, but it had been only 10 minutes until she had seemingly reached the end. The moonlight cut off after a certain point due to the tree, which made it hard for her to see anything afterwards. But every house seemed to look generally the same; every one of them seemed quaint and homely, like a decorated cabin in the woods. No one was out and about at this time of night; she believed that a curfew might be the purpose of such a thing.

And none of the names really made sense for the true identity of the blue blur, at least in terms of last names: Prower… Rabbit… Armadillo… none of which seemed remotely connected to the Mobian she had seen on the news and just that morning. Of course, she had never seen the blur stand still for very long, so that also didn't help

_I figured he'd be more well-known here by now, _Amy thought to herself as she seemed to reach the end of the path, finding only houses on the left stopping at a foot of the woods. _Perhaps they never noticed him due to his-._

And that's when she noticed a house that was different from the others in that it sat at the end of the path, dead center. It looked like a rickety log cabin, though it had been well kept and stable for quite some time. The walls were made of a dark spruce wood, a shade darker than those of other houses and businesses.

_Low profile… I get it,_ she thought slyly to herself, taking a firmer grip of her staff as she began to slowly progress towards the lonely home. It felt old and rusty, yet it also felt like someone was still living in it, given the clear windowpanes at the front of the house.

She walked up to the door, taking a breath in. Amy knew how important this search for dirt on Kintobor was to her father, and if she had to ask a stranger (possibly not even the right one, she had to admit). She calmed herself, took one last breath, and then knocked on the door.

…

Nothing. Nobody came.

She knocked on the door once more, this time asking, "Hello? Is anyone home?"

…

Nothing. Nobody came.

_Well, this is unsettling,_ she thought to herself, once again gripping her staff a little tighter. Looking at the situation, she didn't have a lot of options; everyone else's houses seemed more well-established while this one didn't even have a mailbox. And if it did, she betted there would either be no name or a new coat of paint where it would normally be.

_This has to be his home, _Amy attempted to reassure herself. _It has to be… right?_

She looked down at the spherical door knob, made of rusted metal. And though her father would disagree with decision like this, she knew she had to try.

She latched onto the knob and slowly turned it. She felt a click, and she slowly slid the door open.

"I… am so lucky… and yet in so much trouble right now." She whispered to herself, leaning her head through the door crack. The house was fairly dark, obviously because whoever was there was sleeping. Or at least she hoped they were sleeping. Or that they were there to begin with. In any case, she wanted answers. And she was going to get them, whether her father believed them or not. She took one step in, feeling the tile floor of what she assumed to be a foyer, which made her tense up.

_Crap! Have to be extra quiet now._

She pulled her other leg inside, and, while holding the turned door knob in the same position, slid the door back into place. She then let the door knob settle again and turned back towards the rest of the home. There was a window draped in curtains at the other end of the house, seemed to be in another open room next to the foyer. She could see the moonlight reflecting off the trees behind the house, slightly illuminating the curtain with light… though not much was illuminated.

Even while taking lighter steps, Amy was cautious as the house still slightly echoed with her presence.

_This is the last time I break into someone's houses wearing boots, _she proclaimed to her mind for future reference. _Although that makes the assumption I've broken into someone's house before._

She slowly brought her staff out from behind her, gripping it with her other hand as well. She had no idea how the "blue blur" would react to someone else in his house… obviously angered, but possibly violently. And how would he fend in combat? With his speed, probably better than her. But she wanted to be careful, and her staff was the only thing between her and a hard swing of a fist, even if for a brief moment.

She cleared her throat, and tried to steady her breathing.

"Hello?" She tried again, not trying to be as loud as she was outside. "I'm sorry about this, I really am. I don't mean to wake you. I just want to ask some questions!"

Her slow tiptoeing footsteps were the only answer. She was now incredibly tense, so much so that she didn't really want to move despite her gut telling her to continue. Was anyone even here right now?

"Please, whoever you are!" She called out still a little quiet. "Let me know you're awake. Let me know… that you're real. Let me know that you're… AH!"

The lights flipped on in an instant, finally bathing the tiles she was on in a nice warm tan. She peered up towards the room beyond the foyer to see those lights on too. There was carpet just in there, and she was almost at the end of the foyer as well. But more intriguing was the blue hedgehog, standing in the center of the room, between an open living room and an open kitchen and dining table. He stood with his arms crossed, his expression seeming distrustful but calm.

"Listen, I'll say it upfront," she began, sliding the staff into its sheathe and raising her hands in surrender. "I'm sorry."

The hedgehog smirked at her response to his entry.

"Y'know, I've never had someone break into my home before." He seemed proud of this fact… or maybe that the fact was now void perhaps?

Amy was still fairly cautious. The hedgehog didn't seem to want a fight, so she thought it best to admit she was in the wrong. But she didn't want to stand down from her want to question either. It was a balancing act of surrender yet persistence. And despite her current actions, her father would admit that she was very persistent when she needed to be.

"You're being very nonchalant for someone who is technically the victim of a break-in." Amy stated outright.

"When you've been me and have experienced what I've had to in the past few days, you learn to try and keep your cool." The blue hedgehog replied, his arms still crossed and his smirk still present. He began to walk over to the island in the kitchen. "Not that I'm naturally hotheaded, but… sometimes, your gut feeling is the best one."

As her "host" leaned against the counter's edge, Amy recognized no signs of a confrontation in sight, and she slowly began to put her hands back down to her sides. She could feel the relief building in her heart.

"I heard you from down the hall over there." The blue hog revealed, pointing over to the hallway to her left. "You said you want to ask me some questions. And since you don't seem like some nosey news reporter… I suppose now's as good a time as any to ask them… despite the fact that you broke in."

"Well, your door was unlocked." Amy pointed out.

The hedgehog's smug face seemed defeated by her words. "Oh crap, you're right." He confirmed with an impromptu facepalm. "I need to find that key."

Amy took a deeper breath.

_Okay, so he can be a bit of a dolt… that's a relief._ She thought to herself.

"So…" she began, slowly entering the kitchen area, "are you the 'blue blur' everyone's been talking about?"

The hedgehog, having released himself from his facepalm, regained a clear mind and answered with a raised hand, "Guilty as charged."

"Of course, that can't be your real name, right?" she persisted.

The blue blur smirked. "Most people call me Sonic."

Amy had enough comfort to smile now. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Sonic." She greeted him finally with an extended arm.

As he shook her hand, he replied, "Please, just Sonic. I'm only 17; I'm not a businessman… and this certainly ain't no business meeting."

_17?_ She thought. _He's as old as me! And doing stuff like that out in the city? How's this even possible?_

Sonic moved his waist away from the counter, now leaning on the edge with crossed arms on the side opposite the young girl. He was on the side near the dining table, she on the side nearest to the foyer.

_It figures she's not very comfortable right now,_ he considered. _She still has no idea if I'm gonna report her or something. Which I'm fine with not answering at the moment. She was watching me with seriousness instead of awe today, and I need to figure out why._

"So what's your name then?" He asked quickly.

"Rose. Amy Rose." She put simply.

Something clicked in Sonic's mind and his eyes seemed to widen, though, in Amy's eyes, the expression was barely noticeable due to how fast he processed her answer.

_Amy Rose… Rose Tower, _he pieced together. _Perhaps this is a business meeting._

"Well, obviously you were intrigued with me when I was doing my trial run today." He stated.

"Everyone was." She sharply replied.

"Not the same way you were." The speedster noted. "It seemed as though I meant something to you. I may not know what for at the moment, but you need me. Is that right?"

Amy squirmed a bit in her stance. She wasn't expecting him to pick up so quickly.

_He may be a dolt, _Amy began to correct a previous thought,_ but he's good at seeing the details in quick moments. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous._

"You aren't wrong." She admitted. "You're good at reading people's faces."

Sonic shrugged. "Let's just say that I've gotten used to reading people's faces to see what they think of me."

The pink hedgehog could see there was something deeper there, but she decided to move along.

"You do deserve an explanation. But first I need to know some things about you." She attempted to compromise.

"I had no idea I'd be up at midnight answering 20 questions from a girl who broke into my house." Sonic chuckled to himself. "But I usually can't sleep anyway, so…"

He pulled a stool from his left underneath him so he could sit down.

"Take the other stool, and ask away, Ms. Rose."

Amy slightly blushed a bit. _I did not expect him to call me that._

* * *

"So let's start off with the big one: what happened that Thursday morning?" Amy first asked.

Sonic steered his gaze over to the coffee maker, still broken and unmoved.

"The better question is what happened the night before." He corrected her. "Well, I'll try and keep it brief since… you probably need to sleep more than I do.

"I was living with my uncle Chuck for most of my life. I didn't think of him as much more than a family member and a mechanic. But that Wednesday night, he had left a note saying he had something he needed to do with this doctor, Dr. Kintobor."

"My god, Kintobor…" Amy's mind raced at the mention of that name, "did your uncle Chuck work for Kintobor?"

Sonic nodded. "I assumed they were partners in science. But whatever this meeting was about, my uncle wrote that it wasn't good. And through a little process of elimination, I found the warehouse they were meeting in. My uncle was strapped to a prisoner's table, and Kintobor was standing at a console. And there was this blue orb... pulsating with electricity. But it also seemed supernatural. I can't truly put my finger on it."

Sonic rested his elbows on the table, now twiddling his thumbs in thought.

"The doctor… he grabbed my uncle… and threatened to drop him into the orb. I'm not sure why… but then he dropped him. And I had a gut feeling and ran into the orb and tried to catch him… to push him out of the way… and I almost did. But then the orb exploded… I was knocked out… Kintobor escaped… and my uncle… he…"

A lump formed in his throat. It wasn't as bad as it was the day after the explosion, but… he could feel the sorrow and the guilt rising up his spine. He shivered in an attempt to keep his mind off the subject, but he only continued to dwell. His face turned down towards the table in defeat.

But there was a sudden warmth on his hands. Peering out from under his eyebrows, he could see Amy's hand covering his clasped ones. He looked up further to see Amy's understanding green eyes. She pressed her lips inward, knowing there wasn't much she could say to help him. But she still wanted to say something.

"I know what it's like to lose someone too." She put simply.

Sonic felt a slight smirk rise up to his face, though he still felt the burden of sorrow. But that burden felt a little lighter now. With each time he's had to tell his story, he has felt more content with the details… more accepting of the outcome. His uncle was the only family he had… but the story he was now wrapped in required his attention. His uncle would want him to stay focused, and he didn't want to do wrong by his uncle.

Amy lifted her hand from Sonic's, and he quickly brought his twiddling thumbs closer to his edge of the counter.

"In any case…" he continued, "… I woke up the next to some officers. I was confused and wanted to move. But I kept moving in rapid instances. I was processing what I wanted to do faster than I recognized me having processed what I wanted to do. My speed had increased dramatically. And the movements… they felt natural. This agility… this grace… whatever that explosive orb did to me… it was something I hadn't expected."

"You weren't like this before?" Amy inquired.

"I was an outcast before. Kinda still am, but different reasons." Sonic admitted. "I didn't have any special talent… I looked nothing like my uncle. And I had little to no friends. And I had never been to Central City before. I was an outsider not just here in the village but in the whole world. I felt as though I didn't belong… that is, until I met a kid."

"A kid?" Amy repeated. _What does this have to do with anything I came here for? _She thought.

"I know, bit off topic," Sonic quickly inserted before explaining, "but… he's helped process these past few days a lot better than I would have alone. He's been my lifeline. And he's kinda like my uncle too, fixing things and making engines."

"Engines?" Amy didn't think that word would be mixed in with this kid.

"Yeah, the kid's a weird one." Sonic chuckled to himself. "But he's smart. His name's Miles. I call him Tails."

_That could be useful, _Amy admitted, _but I need to get him back on track. He's right; I am starting to feel tired._

"Sorry, I went off track." Sonic apologized, sitting up and correct his posture. It was hard to find a comfortable position on a seat with no back to it.

"You're fine." Amy responded. "I didn't realize how new this was for you. It was certainly new for me when I saw the news. I just never expected to meet the person behind the blur."

"Person behind the blur… I guess the idea of someone Mobian beneath a powerful figure like that is a bit too abstract for some people out there." Sonic thought aloud.

Amy looked down slightly in thought. "I suppose I'm guilty of that too. But I knew you'd have answers I'd need. But I didn't want to antagonize you."

"So you broke into my house?"

Amy was almost completely offended by that question. "You left your door unl-!"

Sonic raised his finger to his mouth. "Shhh… don't worry. I'm not filing a complaint to Mayor Acorn for some girl who only wanted to chat."

Sonic could see Amy breathe out in relief. And he smiled as she did as well.

_Now's she's more comfortable…_ Sonic thought in relief in return._ Well, at least 'being bad with girls' is definitely not on my power list._

"Mayor Acorn?" Amy then asked.

"She's sorta the leader of the village." Sonic answered. "She lives in the base of the Acorn Tree. Big oak tree out there, pretty hard to miss."

Amy nodded, content with the answer.

"So…" Sonic began, "you got my origin story. What is it you need me for?"

It was now Amy's turn to lean forward. She also seemed troubled with her answer, but it was about time she gave her interviewee some explanation.

"Kintobor… he's a businessman, much like my father. He's been very successful in the eyes of the public. People say he should be the next ambassador for humanity on this planet… and that alone disgusts me."

"So he's two-faced?" Sonic simplified. "Figured as much. How successful has he been?"

"To put it simply, he's now one of the leading minds in robotic innovation and manufacturing… a few spots ahead of my father. That makes him very successful in my book. And Mobians along with humans believe it too."

"It's hard to demote someone so crooked from such a high standing." Sonic agreed. "What made you realize he was crooked?"

"I… I don't really know." Amy started off. Sonic could feel that this was gonna be the hard part. "I only remember being 12 years old when my father came home one night… he looked the saddest that he's ever looked. He told me that… that my mom… he said that she… wasn't gonna be home for a while. And I asked him why. And he said that he didn't really know. Only that he blamed one man for her leaving us."

"Kintobor." Sonic figured out. Amy could only slightly nod as she stared at her hands on the table.

"I see why I'm important to you now." Sonic said, trying to bring her eyes up to meet his. "I'm evidence of his corruption."

Amy nodded once again. "You're a piece of the puzzle, yeah."

"Puzzle?" Sonic repeated. "Like a jigsaw puzzle?"

Amy scoffed, a slight smile seen on her face. "Yeah, like a jigsaw puzzle." She wiped at her eyes, trying to eliminate her tears before they dropped to the counter. "You aren't clear cut evidence that Kintobor was involved with my mom's… passing… but you are evidence that he is malicious and corrupt."

"So we need to find better evidence." Sonic continued.

"Once we find something that works, it won't be too hard to pull him down." Amy finished. "But first, we need to find it."

"How are we gonna do that?" Sonic asked. "We're not exactly private detectives. I can notice some details, but it's not like I can do forensics in my head."

"We'll find a way. If we can meet here again tomorrow evening, I'd like to carry out a little investigation. We may need some help, so go ahead and bring along your tech friend."

"Investigation of what?" Sonic asked.

"The warehouse you went to where you first met Kintobor."

Sonic could not have signed up for that investigation fast enough.

* * *

Sonic decided to walk Amy back to the entrance of the forest. He would have run her over, but she still wanted to talk about things. They were only a few minutes from the forest exit as they neared the end of their conversation.

"You're sure you don't remember anything about the warehouse?" Amy asked to be sure.

"Not at the moment." Sonic answered, trying his hardest to remember any detail he could. "I know where it is, but the inside's still pretty foggy to me right now. Once we get in there again tomorrow night, I might remember more."

"Right, of course." Amy accepted his answer. "The police haven't turned up much in an investigation, so we'll have the place to ourselves.

"Wait. They didn't turn up anything?" Sonic asked. "Then why go there?"

"Sonic, they weren't looking for the right things." Amy answered quickly. "We both know Kintobor was there last night. But they had no idea he was there at all. Perhaps we can find something that they missed."

"Maybe." Sonic guessed that that answer would suffice. "It may not be the evidence you're looking for."

"Any piece that leads me closer to him is worth finding."

As they reached the forest exit, Sonic placed his hand on Amy's shoulder. She stopped in place before turning to face the blue blur.

"Amy… you're not doing this for revenge, right?" Sonic asked calmly.

"Wouldn't you?" She answered sharply back.

"I mean… I guess I'm looking for revenge too, but… I just don't want to do anything stupid. I don't want you to do anything stupid."

"You don't need to worry about me." Amy stated outright.

"Maybe I don't… but I don't want to do anything that could get me or someone else killed. That's already happened to me once. And I don't want it to happen again."

Amy peered down in thought. Perhaps Sonic was right. She still felt anger at even the thought of Kintobor, but… evidence was needed… not death in the slightest.

"I agree." Amy said before looking back up at the speedster once again, this time nodding slightly.

"I'm glad you do." Sonic smirked in relief.

"You have a very different mindset for a teenager, Sonic the Hedgehog." Amy smirked back.

"Eh, comes with the hardships." He said while crossing his arms. "Have a good night, Amy."

"You too." Amy continued to smirk as she turned to make her way down the forested path. It was still just as dark as before, but she could see the small bright lights of the city down at the very end of the walkway. She sighed as she continued to make her way down the dirt path.

But her mind went racing as the wind seemed to pick her up and deliver all the way down the pathway, leaping into the air, swerving through the plaza and dropping her off at the front of Rose Tower itself.

As she regained her footing, she instantly turned back to see a blue blur head right back down the street, drifting around the water fountain in the plaza and leaping back into the forest.

"If only everyone else knew him." Amy wished, as she entered through the tower doors.

* * *

**HOLY CRAP! Hello, everybody, and welcome back to STH! Woohoo for the return!  
**

**Okay, I will pull an Amy and start off by saying this upfront: I'm sorry. I am so sorry for having left this fic behind. Really, I am. I was going through a really tough time this past year, trying to decide my life's route and what I wanted out of the world (makes it sound like I'm important in real life, but I'm not, trust me. I'm just guy who likes Sonic and superheroes. 'Nuff said.).**

**But my retreat was a huge disservice to you guys. I left the story with no note of "hiatus" or "discontinued". I didn't tell you guys what was happening (probably for the better) or that I wasn't gonna write more. It was only recently that I remembered this account and this story. I read the reviews, I reread the story. I remembered exactly what I wanted out of the story, where I wanted to lead it to. And upon reading the end of Chapter 5, I felt that same empty feeling that you veteran readers probably felt. And those reviews… especially the ones after I left. They broke my heart a little, not gonna lie. And one of my favorite reviewers for this story, ****ChangelingRin****, had apparently messaged me months ago in October 2015, asking for me to say something.**

**Well, I'm many months late, but I'm here to say that this story means a lot to me. I actually had another FFN account, with other Sonic fanfictions written before this one. I had a complete first one that I was very proud and now mixed on, and a failed sequel. If you guys want to look at those, PM me and I'll give you the link if you want. But those aren't the fics that I love. I love this fic. I appreciate all the ideas I generated for it. All the plans I created. All within my brain. No step-by-step process, I just started thinking things and writing them down. And, from the response I've gotten so far… it's working.**

**I'm gonna take ChangelingRin's advice and not get arrogant or anything. But I just want to say thank you for the support, spoken or unspoken. This story has done much better in six chapters than my previous fics did in six chapters, and that's thanks to all of you who read this.**

**And I'm not leaving any time soon. This story will be returning with weekly updates (whatever day of the week I choose, really, but definitely weekly… unless something gets in the way, then the next week). I'm gonna fight to keep you guys informed moving forward. That way, we can finish this story together.**

**So again, welcome back to STH. I can't wait to unravel more of this amazing mystery that is this story. I appreciate your support. This has been the longest chapter I've ever written for a story. Also, there will be updates to previous chapters, whenever I get the time, where I fix proofreading mistakes, such as misspelled words, omitted phrases, etc. You newer people seeing this when it's complete don't need to worry; you won't notice a thing. ****Thank you all for enjoying this, and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	8. 7 - Prepared for The Consequences

**Chapter 7: Prepared for The Consequences**

"Hey, would you mind me asking for another chili dog, Rotor?" Sonic asked from his stool at the bar. "For some reason, I'm really hungry today."

A walrus perked his head up, away from the grill at which he was currently grilling. His relaxed face turned to the blue hedgehog, boasting a smile that was hidden beneath his tusks.

"You sure you don't want to make it two, Sonic?" He asked, his voice sounding chill and nonchalant.

"Nah, I got a run to do later today." Sonic denied Rotor's request. "Two more of 'em, and I'd be down and out by the time I got off my stool."

Rotor chuckled to himself as he turned back to the grill, scooping up his currently cooking ingredients. "That'd be a new record."

"Y'know, considering the last few nights consisting of running laps around Knothole and still having headaches when I'm even close to falling asleep… you wouldn't be wrong." The blue blur answered somberly.

Rotor slowed his cooking, now concerned with Sonic more than the meal.

"Sounds like it's been a rough few days then." The walrus's voice came off gruffer than before.

He set the food back down to heat up some more, leaving the area to lean against the bar opposite Sonic.

"Well, it certainly has been." Sonic stated. "I mean, I told you everything that happened, and… needless to say, I'm still a little in shock. At least I think I am. It could be the speed… or maybe it's both.

"Don't let it worry you too much, man." Rotor's optimistic words stepped into Sonic's thoughts.

"I'm trying to." The blue blur replied calmly. "Guess I'm not good at it."

"Hey." Rotor grasped Sonic's shoulder, getting Sonic's head to perk back up. "The only reason you're not good at it is 'cause you haven't done it enough. Least that's how I see it."

A smirk returned to Sonic's face again.

"Thanks, Rotor."

The walrus nearly gasped. "Is that a smile I see?"

"No!" Sonic chuckled to him. "It's a smirk."

"Nah." Rotor aptly argued.

"It's a smirk, totally different!" Sonic nearly laughed.

"You need to look in a mirror to figure out what a smirk looks like. That is not a smirk!"

"Hey, guys." A little voice sounded from Sonic's right.

The boys turned their heads to see Tails pulling himself onto the stool.

"Aye, Tails, you made it." Sonic said, bringing Tails into the fray.

"Yeah," Rotor began to snicker. "This hog's been waiting for you for the last hour and has been bothering me ever since."

"It wasn't an hour…" Sonic replied with a smile. "And I didn't bother you… for too long."

"Sonic, any time is too much!" He laughed aloud, returning to the grill and putting things aside for Sonic's chili dog. "Want anything, Tails?"

"I'll also have a chili dog, thanks." Tails jumped on the band wagon. He eagerly turned his attention to Sonic. "You seem to be getting along with Rotor."

"Yeah." Sonic admitted. "I'm glad you introduced me formally to him. He's a nice guy. Honest, too."

"So, what's up?"

Sonic swiveled his seat to face his friend. What had happened last night was too much for just small talk.

"Well, a lot." Sonic responded honestly. "You remember the trial run from yesterday?"

"Of course." Tails nodded.

"Well, during my run, there was this girl… a pink hedgehog… she was looking at me, but not like the other people out there. The others were almost in awe, but… she seemed pretty serious."

"Did she know something about you?" Tails asked.

"She thought I was important. You see, last night, 'round midnight or so… she had broken into my house."

"What?!"

"No, no, she didn't steal anything." Sonic attempted to quell the yelps from Tails while continuing his story. "Far from it. She wanted to talk to me. She wanted my help with something. I won't get into it for her sake, but she's got a personal vendetta against Kintobor. And she wants me to help prove his guilt."

The little fox was blown away by this. His elbows leaned against the bar's surface, and his hands flew up to his forehead.

"Wow." He simply said. "That is crazy."

"Yeah." Sonic repeated. "It was crazy."

Tails took a few moments to process before letting his hands leave his forehead and turning back to Sonic.

"So… what? Why are we talking here?" The kitsune asked before things began to click in his head. Sonic progressively nodded as he got closer. "Do you guys need my help? Are we seriously going to find Kintobor?"

"Maybe. I wouldn't know for sure, but… we plan on hitting up the warehouse I met him at later tonight. We'd be meeting at my house after dinnertime." Sonic explained. He extended his fist towards Tails. "You up for it?"

The fox bumped his friend's fist in return. "Yeah… I mean, yeah, sure, I…" Tails leaned against the bar, taking in a deep breath.

"I know, it's a lot to take in." The blue blur admitted.

"It's not just that, I mean…" Tails began, still trying to grasp his ever-running thoughts, "… we're still kids, Sonic. We're still going to school, we're still… learning how the world works. Do we really know what we're getting ourselves into?"

Sonic's gaze seemed to lower as he pondered Tails's question. The kid did have a point. On one hand, it's great that they're taking a step in figuring out this underlying mystery that is Kintobor. But on the other hand, they're still kids, going to school and making mistakes. And even with the intelligence and the speed to back them up… is this really something that they should be doing? Is it worth the risk?

"I'm not trying to discourage the idea." Tails added on, breaking Sonic away from his thoughts. "I mean, I already said I'd help. I just… want to be careful."

Sonic nodded. "Yeah. So do I. That's what I told the girl last night."

"What's her name?" Tails inquired.

"Amy. Amy Rose."

"Amy… Rose?" Tails repeated.

"Uh… yeah?" Sonic answered.

"Like, the Amy Rose?" Tails insisted on a better answer.

"I mean, there's really only one." Sonic further explained.

"Dude…" Tails began to nearly fanboy over the whole idea. "You ran up her dad's tower yesterday!"

Sonic chuckled a bit to himself. Of course Tails would find that funny.

"Yeah, I certainly did.

"Chili dogs for you, my men!" Rotor called out from behind the bar, walking over with two plates with individual chili dogs.

"Perfect. Thanks, Rotor." Sonic said, grasping his plate while handing Tails his own.

"No problem." The walrus replied as he began to walk to the other end of the bar to take requests from another customer.

"I can't believe we're gonna be working with Amy Rose. That is so awesome."

"What, you got a crush on her or something?" Sonic snickered before taking a bite of his dog.

"No, heck no! She's not even my age." Tails reasoned. "I'm excited because she's the daughter of one of my favorite cybernetic creators on Mobius. Dr. Rose is amazing. It's a shame he's not higher up in regards to the leaders of robot innovation."

As the kitsune took his own bite, Sonic kept thinking about the Roses… and what Kintobor might've done to them… what he might've done to Amy's mother.

"Yeah…" he finally replied. "A real shame."

* * *

The doors slid open, and the light from the sun seemed to flood into the room for the first time. But upon the first few footsteps of the doctor entering the room, the doors began to slide hut once again, omitting the sun from the hidden home once again.

"Thank you for the idea, Scratch." The doctor smiled whilst petting the metal beak of the perched pet on his shoulders. "I needed a walk. These days have been stressful. It's a shame that I have to head back to the city in a few days, but… I did promise them I'd be back. The things you have to do to move ahead in the human hierarchy…"

He patted his seat, and Scratch hopped his way down from the doctor's arm and dug his claws into the farther corner of the chair's back.

"At least you don't have to put up with those antics." The doctor smirked before taking a seat down in his chair.

His monitors showed aerial views of Central City, specifically over some warehouses, Rose Tower, and the mammoth of a building that was Kintobor Industries. Looking close enough, one could see the cars driving by on the streets, surrounding the buildings and forcing your attention to their presence.

The doctor seemed to smile at the sight of his own structure, but a sort of disdain became present on his face upon viewing Rose Tower. It was not so much disdain for it being the tower of Mr. Rose as it was… a beacon… a beacon of his fault… the thing that made him secretly feared.

"I am happy that most people have passed it by…" he reasoned to himself, "… but… that night… it makes me shiver just thinking of it."

The doctor felt a nudge from Scratch's beak, and his somber feeling started to lift a little.

"I know… I shouldn't dwell on past mistakes… even if they really weren't mistakes."

The doctor then eyed the bird's eye view of the warehouses, noting the one with a broken ceiling glass window.

_And then there's this one…_ he started to enter the spiral again.

"Remind me later, Scratch, to deactivate the camouflage on that missing energy projector tonight. I'll need to send some bots over to retrieve it for me. The police have already left the building vacant, but I don't want to risk any sightings. We have to be quick about this."

The doctor reclined back in his chair, a hand perching itself underneath his chin. He furrowed his brow upon looking at the warehouse once again.

"And if anything goes wrong…" he continued, "… then we must be prepared for the consequences."

* * *

"Alright, Mily, you have everything you need?" Ms. Prower called down into the basement.

Tails scurried into view at the bottom of the stairs.

"Yeah, I think I'm good." He replied back.

"Good. Just remember, I'll be working late tonight at the hospital, so don't worry if I'm not home when you expect me to be. They may keep me a while." She began to walk towards the front door.

"I'll be sure to remember, mom!" Tails called back. "Have fun!"

Ms. Prower chuckled as she opened the door. "As much as they'll allow me to. Bye, honey!"

"Bye bye!"

The door shut, and Tails retreated back to the center table in his room, snatching up a wrench and focusing back on his big engine. The thing was 2X bigger than his head; how he constructed it on his own would baffle anyone without a talent regarding mechanical innovation. Sure, twisting bolts and welding pieces onto the contraption was itself a chore, but Tails always found some sort of joy and satisfaction from completing a piece of a project, let alone the whole thing. And fortunately for him, his engine was almost done.

But as Tails screwed in another bolt, the front door closed once again. His ears perked up, and he began to hear footsteps above. In only a small moment, the little fox's heart started to race, but only for that small time as the next sound calmed him deeply.

"Tails?" He heard a brash voice call out.

The fox took a big sigh of relief before calling back, "Down here!"

A rapid flurry of footsteps led to Tails seeing Sonic near his desk in only 2 seconds.

"Gosh, you're getting fast." Tails pointed out.

"Yeah, I'm hearing that a lot." The blue blur agreed.

"What, from the news?" Tails assumed.

Sonic nodded, beginning to take a walk around the room, investigating the packed bookshelves.

"It's not like I don't like them talking about me. It just… feels weird. I don't know how to describe it."

"Well," Tails began to consider, "you've never encountered yourself being this popular and so talked about. Makes sense for you to feel a little uncomfortable."

Sonic began scanning the book spines, intrigued to see what Tails had interest in reading. His mind was so preoccupied with that now that all he could reply with was, "Yeah."

His eyes darted over dozens of titles that ranged in subject from mechanical engineering to aviation studies. His mind lit up when he remembered Tails's project.

"Have you read any of these books?" Sonic asked.

Tails's head slightly perked up from his project again. He wasn't used to people besides his mother asking him about his projects, let alone in his basement lab.

"Uh, not all of them." He gave an honest answer. "Some I have there in case I forget something or come across something I haven't seen before. Doesn't happen too often; once you get the basics of engineering down, it's just a lot of common sense from there on out."

Sonic scoffed as turned back toward Tails and his engine, walking around to Tails's side.

"It's weird hearing the words "common sense" coming out of a 14 year-old's mouth." Sonic pointed out, now beginning to chuckle to himself.

Tails looked over at the hedgehog, a smile brewing on his face.

_I'd say I wasn't proud, but… I am,_ Tails thought to himself.

"I pick up on those terms pretty quickly." He explained. "Comes from reading textbooks and listening to my mom talk to people around the village and at the hospital."

Sonic turned his head at Tails's last words. "Your mom works at a hospital?"

"Yeah. The one in Central City. She's a nurse for patients there. She said she'd be working late tonight, so… shouldn't have to worry about her noticing me being gone when we head to the warehouse tonight."

"Right." Sonic remembered the coming investigation. He took a look down at his watch.

_3:32 pm… _Sonic read. _Okay, still have loads of time._

He looked back up at the fox, who was putting one of the last few bolts he had laid out near the engine. There was something nagging Sonic, in the back of his brain. It was a question that was still bothering him from today's lunch…

_Do we really know what we're getting ourselves into?_ Tails's words continued to ring in Sonic's head. Maybe his frantic mind was trying to get him to talk about this question. Maybe this wasn't a question that Sonic needed to answer…

"Hey, Tails…" Sonic started, a feeling of guilt beginning to well up in him again, a familiar feeling from the past few days returning once more. "Listen, I… I'm a bit concerned. Actually, very concerned."

The kitsune turned in surprise. He hadn't expected Sonic to bring up something like this now. "What are you concerned about?" He asked, lowering his wrench from the engine.

Sonic placed a hand on the corner of the work table, looking down at the smooth oak wood.

"I guess I'm… concerned about you." He finally admitted. "I mean, I don't have much to lose from trying to find Kintobor, but… you do."

Tails turned his full attention towards Sonic. Clearly, this had been brewing in his mind for a little while.

"You have this lab, you're working on this big project, you have your studies, you have this home… you have your mom. I just, I don't know… Amy told me about how Kintobor may be involved with her mom's disappearance… and… I don't… want you to put any of this in danger… just because I invited you to."

Tails was left speechless. This was the second time that Sonic had let him know something like this. Tails had never had any of his friends respect him as much as Sonic had for the past few days. Perhaps it was because Sonic had lacked friends for so long that… he knew how valuable they really were? The fox had never been regarded as an outcast himself, so he wasn't sure. But he certainly felt something he hadn't felt before from a friend in his 14 years of life.

"I'm not saying you can't go with Amy and me to the warehouse." Sonic added on. "I just… want you know that you have a choice. That you don't have to come."

Tails peered down, away from Sonic's eyes, now lowered into deep thought. This was something he hadn't expected to hear today, especially after their chat at lunch today. He switched his wrench over to his left hand and placed it down on the table, now looking back up at the blue blur.

"I think I do." He simply said. "Want to come, that is. Yeah, I… I thought about our talk today, and... I know that I may be putting my family in jeopardy, and I know I'm only 14 years old and I have lot to do other than this. But… I don't know, Sonic. This just… it feels important to me. Not because I have some big grudge against Kintobor, but because Kintobor may have some big grudge against our world. I want to travel in my plane… see all the things Mobius has to offer… and if people like Kintobor are trying to ruin the planet I love and the people I respect, then… I think it's right for me to try and protect it."

He then began to smile as he remembered who he was talking to.

"And I also think it's right for me to protect my friends. Especially if they want to protect me too."

The blue blur felt that weight of guilt begin to lift itself from his shoulders; all he could do in response was grin back at the two tailed fox he now called friend. He finally thought of some words to say.

"Thanks, Tails… I didn't expect you to say yes, but… I'm glad I was wrong."

Tails nodded in silence, still smiling.

"I got your back, Sonic." Tails reassured the moved blur.

Sonic gulped down this joy… this strange little joy that those words brought to his heart.

"I got yours too, Tails."

* * *

"Is that all you heard?" A woman asked of Rotor the Walrus.

"I'm positive." He replied. "There gonna be meeting tonight. Something about heading out to a warehouse."

The woman only seemed to nod in response, as if nothing more needed to be said. She leaned against her desk, at the edge of her chair.

"Do you, uh, want us to do anything about it?" He finally asked after a thoughtful silence.

"No." She firmly stated. "At least, not yet. I don't want to jump the gun. We need to see what they can do. I'd advise keeping a safe distance again. We don't want to come on too strong. It may falter their desires to even try this for themselves."

"I mean, he's told me so much about the past couple days." The walrus pointed out. "And the kid's helped him through a lot of it. Even that doctor's daughter wants get revenge… at least that's what it sounded like. It wouldn't be very easy to steer them off this path if we even tried."

The woman kept a stern look on her face, ensuring that her decision was final. "Rotor… play it safe. I'll let you know when the time is right."

"But when will that be?" He inquired.

"Soon. I assure you… it'll be soon." She turned her seat away, looking out her office window, filled with a grand view of her village of Knothole.

Rotor seemed reluctant, but he knew that she had a better mind for decisions like these. He had been her right-hand Mobian for several years now… why would he doubt after her being right for so long?

He clasped his hands together behind his back, returning to a more formal state… despite his voice sounding as chill as ever. "Anything else, Ms. Acorn?"

The chipmunk chuckled in her seat, turning her head to look at him again with a little smirk. "Rotor, you know my name's Sally. It's not like we're strangers in public."

"Right, sorry. Can't help myself." Rotor seemed to blush at his mistake… one that had made many times over those several years.

"But no." She answered, beginning to peer down through her window. "That's all I needed to hear. You should back out there; it looks like things are getting busy down at your work."

"Oh, shoot, you're right, I should go. Have a good day, Sally!" The walrus called out as he huffed and puffed his way out of her office and down the hallways and stairways within the Acorn Tree.

"You too, Rotor." She replied normally, looking down at the pathway below as she saw a blue hedgehog and a fox with a stopwatch, heading off for another time trial once again.

* * *

**Hello, everybody, and thanks for reading this chapter!**

**Sorry for not updating on Friday like I promised. The last chapter I posted was one I had started several months before but never finished because I lost interest. I got it done fairly quickly because half of it was finished. This, on the other hand, was a whole new chapter. I had to find its own direction. And I can already tell you this: I did not plan for this chapter to be this way when I was doing the story before… but dear god, do I think it's better! But I do recognize that I'm releasing this late. I need to get back into the swing of writing and get a feel for it again. Let's hope I keep up with the schedule again. Expect a chapter next Sunday.**

**Anyways, I hope you're liking this story's direction. Lots more intrigue than originally planned and a lot more depth than I thought it would have, but I know you guys will love where this all goes. I promise you: excitement and surprises are in store next chapter.**

**Thank you all for enjoying this, and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


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